The Lady Without Camelias

The second feature film by cinema master Michelangelo Antonioni, La signora senza camelie (The Lady Without Camelias), expanded the expressive palette of contemporary Italian movies, demonstrating that a personal vision could take an explicitly poetic tack; that "seriousness = neo-realism" was perhaps already turning into something of a truism; and that Antonioni would answer to no-one but himself. It's the story of a shopclerk named Clara (played by the captivating Lucia Bosé, also of Antonioni's brilliant debut feature, Cronaca di un amore) who finds a chance casting in a small movie role develop into a full-blown career as screen-siren. Tension erupts when her husband can no longer tolerate watching her frivolous cinema escapades, and pushes her into a "serious, artistic" production of the life of Joan of Arc... whereupon she is castigated by the critical establishment. (Eureka Entertainment)