A beautiful young woman and young man impulsively embark on a love affair, swiftly followed by marriage, before World War II disrupts their lives forever. 1970's I girasoli (Sunflower) is a very simple story that wouldn't work nearly as well as it does if it didn't star Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. Director Vittorio De Sica deserves credit, too, for letting these two play off each other so naturally.
The first part of the movie is such a pleasure to watch. Watching Loren and Mastroianni arguing and making love on the beach or making a frittata in a little rustic kitchen.
Then he's called to war, to fight the Soviet Union, and is lost in the snows of Russia. Years after the war, convinced he survived somehow, she goes to the Soviet Union and searches for him.
The result is a fairly simple little tragedy. Most of what's valuable in this film continues to be the chemistry between Loren and Mastroianni. But they are captivating.
It's also interesting to see so much location footage in Italy, Russia, and Ukraine from a prominent neorealist director.
I girasoli is available on The Criterion Channel.
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