Two Women

"Suddenly, Love Becomes Lust… Innocence becomes shame… As two women are trapped by violent passion and unforgettable terror!"

1960 1h 40m IT

🙌

7.8

BANGER

★7.8TMDB · 589

DramaWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A young widow flees from Rome during WWII and takes her lonely twelve-year-old-daughter to her rural hometown but the horrors of war soon catch up with them.

“Suddenly, Love Becomes Lust… Innocence becomes shame… As two women are trapped by violent passion and unforgettable terror!”

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Cast

Sophia Loren
Cesira
Eleonora Brown
Rosetta
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Michele Di Libero
Raf Vallone
Giovanni
Carlo Ninchi
Filippo, il padre di Michele
Andrea Checchi
un fasciste
Pupella Maggio
un fermier
Emma Baron
Maria

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Vittorio De Sica
Writers: Cesare Zavattini
Languages: German, Italian
Countries: France, Italy

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

66 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: German, Italian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: France, Italy.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Vittorio De Sica, shot by Gábor Pogány. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Armando Trovajoli. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Adriana Novelli shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Sophia Loren and Eleonora Brown and Jean-Paul Belmondo carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Suddenly, Love Becomes Lust… Innocence becomes shame… As two women are trapped by violent passion and unforgettable terror!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Vittorio De Sica directs. Gábor Pogány behind the camera. Armando Trovajoli scores. Adriana Novelli cuts. Produced in France, Italy. Dialogue in German, Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

166 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: German, Italian.
3International production across 2 countries: France, Italy.
4Directed by Vittorio De Sica, shot by Gábor Pogány. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Armando Trovajoli. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Adriana Novelli shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Sophia Loren and Eleonora Brown and Jean-Paul Belmondo carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Suddenly, Love Becomes Lust… Innocence becomes shame… As two women are trapped by violent passion and unforgettable terror!".
9IMDB entry: tt0054749 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 16 themes, including "rape", "rome, italy", "parent child relationship", "italy".

The technical file

Cinematography: Gábor Pogány
Original score: Armando Trovajoli
Editing: Adriana Novelli
Production design: Gastone Medin
Costume design: Elio Costanzi
Makeup / hair: Giuseppe Annunziata
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: IT
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Two Women (1960)

Awards

Silver nugget for the best foreign film
Academy Award for Best Actress

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Vittorio De Sica

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-04-29
★ 7/10
I think you could dress Sophia Loren in an old sack and she'd still ooze a personality and charisma that serves her really well in this heart-rending wartime story. She is the widowed "Cesira" who, with bombs falling all around them, decides it's best to get her young daughter "Rosetta" (Eleonora Brown) out of danger. Getting back to her home town of Sant'Eufemia together is a journey fraught with risk but upon their arrival at this Nazi occupied village, they begin to live what might pass for a normal life. "Cesira" even meets the romantic, if a little naive, younger "Michele" (Jean-Paul Belmondo) but as the food starts to run out and rumours of an Allied advance begin to substantiate, she decides that maybe a return to Rome is best as they are soon all targets for bombing raids. It's this return trip that exposes them to the abject horrors not just of warfare but of human nature at it's worst too. The full effects of warfare - both physical and psychological are visited on these two women as they seek safety where there is little to be had, and as the palpable sense of tension and fear builds up, Loren raises her game delivering a strong and plausible performance as a mother desperate to protect her daughter - who maybe doesn't quite appreciate the dangers they are in. Raf Vallone's "Giovanni" contributes sparingly but effectively and the whole style of Vittorio De Sica's intensely photographed photography and storytelling presents us with as gripping a tale of the ghastliness of war as I've ever seen. Not an easy watch, but a poignant one.

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