The Visitor

Pina lives in a small town on the Po plain, is in her thirties and has her own house and job. Convinced that the way out runs through finding the right man, she places an advertisement in a newspaper. Adolfo answers from Rome and comes to see her for a day. The film follows that single day: a meal, a walk, conversations and the silences between them. As flashbacks open up both their pasts, it becomes clear that the visit is really an audition. Antonio Pietrangeli uses the shapes of Italian comedy while the humour keeps cooling. Adolfo looks courteous and is calculating, small and cruel; Pina, for all her loneliness, is far more alive than he is. The director never makes the woman ridiculous, showing step by step that the ridiculous one is the man. Sandra Milo's performance sits in exactly the opposite register from her part in Fellini's film of the same year.