THE FIANCEES
Italy, 1963, 84 minutes, Black and White.
Carlo Carbrini, Anna Canzi.
Directed by Ermanno Olmi.
The Fiancees is an early film written and directed by Ermano Olmi (The Tree of Wooden Clogs, The Job, Cammina Cammina). It is a realistic portrait of a relationship between a young woman in a town and her resentment with her fiance leaving for six months with an opportunity to become a skilled worker in a developing factory. The focus of the film is on a dance - with flashbacks from the main characters enabling the audience to see why there was a tension between them, what had happened to the young man, the effect on the young woman, the possibilities of their reconciliation. The unknown cast performs well - though the realism is backed by the atmosphere of the flashbacks and the audience trying to understand their meaning.
1.Interesting Italian film? Human relationships? Work opportunities and relationships? The '60s?
2.The work of Ermano Olmi, this film in his canon? The black and white photography, the realistic and naturalistic style? The insertions of the flashbacks? The musical score?
3.The title, the focus on the man, the woman, their love, tensions in the relationship, clashes, reconciliation?
4.The opening with the dance, the young men and women sitting down, the band starting, the dancing starting? The tension between the fiancees? The woman not wanting to dance, the man moving away? The woman and her jealousy, dancing with another man? The fiancees' return to the table, watching? The flashbacks, the subjective interpretation of the memories? The audience interpreting? Continually returning to the dance? The finale and resolution?
5.The woman, sitting at the table, sullen with the fiance? Not dancing? Dancing with the other man? Her memories, her demands on her fiance, his leaving her, the effect, loneliness, emotional? A future?
6.The young man, the fiancee refusing to dance? The flashbacks, the love between the two, his studies, engineering skills, the opportunities? His going away, six months? Arguing with the fiancee and her response? The plane, the enormous plant, the executives and their attitudes, a different world? The job, skills required? His advancement and possibilities? The fiancee seeming to begrudge these? His achievement? The reasons for the return? A future?
7.The background of Italy in the '60s, the industrial cities, urban developments, the need for skilled and trained workers? The world of executives and ambitions? The contrast with the city life and the small town? This film seen in the retrospect of later decades and exploration of character and relationships?
