Cronaca di un amore [Story of a Love Affair] **** (1950, Lucia Bosé, Massimo Girotti, Ferdinando Sarmi, Gino Rossi) – Classic Movie Review 6,282

The 1950 Italian drama film Cronaca di un amore [Story of a Love Affair], directed by Michelangelo Antonioni in his feature debut, stars Massimo Girotti and Lucia Bosè in a story inspired by The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Michelangelo Antonioni’s hugely promising and satisfying 1950 Italian romantic crime drama Cronaca di un amore [Story of a Love Affair] is his first full-length feature film, after making highly regarded documentaries. It stars Massimo Girotti (as Guido Garroni) and Lucia Bosè (as attractive young Paola Fontana), along with fashion designer Ferdinando Sarmi (as Paola’s wealthy industrialist husband, Enrico Fontana).

With an emotionally intense story that was inspired by James M Cain’s 1934 novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, it mixes film noir and neo-realism to become Antonioni’s own stylish thing, though this naturally upset the Italian neorealist movement [Neorealismo] since it features upper-class characters played by professional actors (though Ferdinando Sarmi was a fashion designer) and uses images and techniques not in the neorealist style.

In the story, jealous shady Milan factory owner Enrico hires a private detective to keep tabs on his younger wife, unhappily married Paola, who again meets her former lover Guido after seven years, kindling their old passion, and then the trouble starts as they plot Enrico’s demise.

The film is renowned for Antonioni’s ground-breaking techniques, its famed long and sweeping one-take shot, and Enzo Serafin’s scintillating black and white photography, as well as the splendid performances of Massimo Girotti and Lucia Bosè, propelling them to stardom.

The 19-year-old former Miss Italy 1947 was Antonioni’s girlfriend at that time. They met at lunch at the house of Luchino Visconti, who recommended Bosè to him for his movie. This is fascinating because Visconti had filmed his own version of the James M Cain book: Ossessione (1943), which also stars Massimo Girotti and was also an unauthorised and uncredited adaptation of the 1934 novel. Also fascinating, Ossessione is often considered to be the first Italian neorealist film.

Nevertheless, Cronaca di un amore [Story of a Love Affair] is credited as being based on a story by Michelangelo Antonioni, his story merely being inspired by the James M Cain novel, which in turn owes a clear debt to Émile Zola’s 1868 novel Thérèse Raquin, which has a similar plot.

Also in the cast are Gino Rossi as the detective Carloni, Marika Rowsky as the model Joy, Rosi Mirafiore as the barmaid, Rubi D’Alma as Paola’s friend, Vittoria Mondello as Matilde and Franco Fabrizi as the fashion show presenter.

Cronaca di un amore [Story of a Love Affair] is directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, runs 98 minutes, is made by Villani Film, is released by Fincine, is written by Michelangelo Antonioni, Daniele D’Anza, Silvio Giovannetti, Francesco Maselli and Piero Tellini, based on a story by Michelangelo Antonioni, is shot in black and white by Enzo Serafin, is produced by Franco Villani, is scored by Giovanni Fusco.

It is also known as Chronicle of a Love in the United Kingdom.

Release date: 11 October 1950 (Italy).

Filming locations: FERT Studios, Turin, Piedmont; Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna; Idroscalo, Milan, Lombardia; Milan, Lombardi;, Planetario di Milano, Milan, 

The original negative was destroyed in a fire in 1989.

Bosè recalled in 2018: ‘On that set, for the first time, I felt beautiful. I wore wonderful dresses and amazing hats.’ But she also recalled a particularly bad day of filming when, after shooting 40 takes of one scene, she broke character and laughed. Antonioni approached her in a fury and slapped her in front of everyone. She said she refused to lose her temper, composed herself, and requested to continue filming.

Story of a Love Affair is available on Region 2 DVD (Mr Bongo Films).

In 27 July 2020, CultFilms released Story of a Love Affair on Blu-ray and digital on demand in HD for the first time, from a painstaking 2K restoration.

Other versions of the James M Cain book are: Le Dernier Tournant [The Last Turning], a 1939 French film directed by Pierre Chenal and starring Michel Simon, Ossessione (1943), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981).

Lucia Bosè (28 January 1931 – 23 March 2020) 

Lucia Bosé was born on 28 January 1931 in Milan.

Lucia Bosé, here making her second feature film after the 1950 film, Non c’è pace tra gli ulivi [No Peace Under the Olives] directed by Giuseppe De Santis, was born on January 28, 1931 in Milan. 

in 1953, Bosé and Antonioni made La signora senza camelie [The Lady without Camelias] together.

But in 1955 she fell in love with Spanish bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín during the filming of Muerte de un ciclista [Death of a Cyclist], and gave up acting to marry and raise a family.

Lucia Bosè died of pneumonia at the General Hospital of Segovia, Spain, on 23 March 2020, aged 89, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6,282

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