The Sunday Woman (1975) User Reviews

A little masterpiece

[stefano1488 · 8/10 · 14 October 2003]

"La donna della domenica" is an outstanding film, but one that is unlikely to be fully appreciated by non-Italians, most of whom might see it as a whodunnit of sorts. Its strength lies, instead, not just with its excellent cast, but also with the caustic way in which it describes Turin's high society: full of characters that, behind their apparent stylishness and elegance, betray a penchant for hypocrisy and an inability to look further than the conventional way in which they live.

It looks more like a comedy, and a well-written, witty one at that.

A compelling Italian mystery with some bizarre moments

[Red-Barracuda · 7/10 · 3 February 2014]

Well I can safely say that I never thought I would ever see Marcello Mastroianni - star of several important Federico Fellini and Michaelangelo Antonioni art films - appear in a room full of giant ceramic penises. It's certainly a defining feature of sorts to have the number one Italian actor of the 60's New Wave find himself in this sort of scenario. But to be fair, aside from these giant phalluses having an important part in the plot, The Sunday Woman is a fairly restrained bit of Italian cinema. It certainly, partially at least, falls under the giallo sub-genre but it has the feeling more of an Agatha Christie style whodunit than of a typical Italian murder-mystery. The reason for this is that the story revolves around a very unlikable murder victim whose behaviour ensures that there are plenty of suspects, while the overall emphasis of the film is squarely on the mystery side of the story with very little thriller aspects at all.

The murders are committed off-screen and there is a distinct lack of suspense scenes. This sets it apart from the usual giallo conventions. To be perfectly honest though, if the movie had added more of that sort of stuff it would be even better and might have entered the upper bracket of its genre. As it is, it's a much less salacious affair – giant penises aside – and more reliant on its plotting and acting. It's fairly solid on that front with not only Mastroianni at its disposal as the police inspector but also the reliable Jean-Louis Tritignant in one of his less broody roles as one of the chief suspects, while it was good to see Aldo Regianni from Dario Argento's The Cat o' Nine Tails in another shifty role as Tritignant's homosexual lover. It's also worth pointing out the Il Maestro himself, Ennio Morricone, once more contributes a quality score. He produced so many during this period that is very easy to forget just how good they all actually were and, well, this is yet another one.

It's possibly a little overlong in fairness. The material doesn't really justify a running time just shy of two hours. Having said that it does remain compelling nevertheless and the answer to the mystery isn't too obvious and is quite satisfying. I also liked the strange moments where we see slow-motion fantasy flashbacks of the suspects striking down on the unfortunate victim with their ceramic penis weaponry. It's just so strange but somewhat memorable. I wouldn't necessarily describe The Sunday Woman as a must see for fans of Italian genre cinema though. It may disappoint some who seek the thrills of a typical giallo for example. But I personally consider it one, just a far more low-key entry, and one that has enough intrigue and strange moments to ensure that it works pretty well.

Diet Giallo, but great anyway

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 3 March 2019]

Lightweight, afternoon tea-like Giallo with subtle humour and a nice performance by Marcello Mastrioanni. A kind of Marks and Spencer

giallo.

In Turin, dirty old man/architect Garrone goes about his daily business of looking up woman's skirts, making optimistic passes at young waitresses, and ruining high class are exhibitions. Meanwhile, bored housewife Anna is tuning out her older husband ramblings and thinking about a pointless argument she's having with her possible lover Massimo (Jean-Luis Trintigant). They are arguing about how to pronounce the word Boston, by the way, and this architect Garrone has stuck his nib in about it. Clearly venting, Anna writes a letter where she thinks Massimo and herself should kill Garrone.

Garrone ends up being beaten to death by a giant stone phallus and Anna regrets writing that letter as her two newly-fired house staff take the letter to the police. The man in charge of the case is Marcello Mastrioanni and he's a bit uncomfortable with this whole upper class thing. The bored Anna and the even more bored Massimo start treating the whole thing like a game and start doing their own investigations.

Complicating things further is the revelation that Massimo isn't Anna's lover, as he's in a turbulent gay relationship Lello. While it's refreshing to see an actual gay relationship in an Italian movie from this era, rather than a man in drag battering policeman with a handbag and screaming that he's all woman, these two bicker like fiends and you wonder what Lello is thinking when he also starts his own investigation into the murder to save his relationship with Massimo.

The more Marcello digs, the more dirt he finds as it seems that no one has an alibi and everyone seems to be up to something. He now also has to contend with two eccentric sisters who have trouble with hooker using their garden for business, a mysterious car that's following people around and a stonemason business that specializes in stone phalluses

There's not a great deal of murder here but plenty of mystery, and Marcello Mastrioanni's laid back, bemused cop wanders through a world he doesn't understand, with a few sidekicks, many, many meals, and plenty of discussion about Sicilians, Sardinians, and Piedmontians. It's quite a long film for a giallo and even though it's trash free, my mind didn't wander at all while watching it.

Nice Ennio Morricone soundtrack too - but do i have to say that?

Discontinuous but still enjoyable

[michelerealini · 1 September 2004]

The story is taken from the Fruttero & Lucentini's book of the same title. Mysterious murders take place in Turin, Italy; victims are always people from the upper class. The movie is not a masterpiece. The solution of the cases is not well explained, the director goes too fast in showing us who the guilty is. The movie lacks some dramatical moments. Nevertheless, "La donna della domenica" is still an enjoyable movie. First, the cast is excellent: Marcello Mastroianni is very charming in the role of the elegant policeman Santamaria; Jacqueline Bisset too is delightful in the part of the snobbish lady; also Jean-Louis Trintignant works very well. Other Italian actors (with a long experience in the theatre and at the movies) complete the cast, for example Claudio Gora and Lina Volonghi. Luigi Comencini, one the inventors of the Italian comedy, directs this 1975 thriller with a lot of humor. And, as usual, the music of Ennio Morricone is fantastic (actually that's one of the highlights of the film).

The commissioner and the society of Turin.

[zutterjp48 · 7/10 · 4 January 2022]

Mr. Garrone , an old architect and skirt chaser has been killed in his apartment: somebody hit him with a stone phallus. The commissioner Salvatore Santamaria, who comes from Rome , is in charge of this investigation. His superior tells him to be very carefull with the high society of Turin. The commissioner will meet a wealthy businessman ,Massimo Campi and Anna Carla Dosio, a rich and bored woman.

The description of this high society which is complaining about the criminality, trying to speak in English , speaking about their holidays and sending their children to Switzerland for their education is quite fine and maybe more interesting that the investigation itself.

I enjoyed the performances of Marcello Mastrioanni, Jean-Louis Trintignant , Aldo Reggiani, Jacqueline Bisset and Claudio Gora.

Does Not Hold Up as Well as Other Italian 70s Films

[thalassafischer · 6/10 · 22 February 2024]

The Sunday Woman is a dramatic comedy with a murder mystery, but sadly the humor is quaint and childish, focused on phallic statues and pillows in the shape of a butt. I guess this was considered risque to the most conservative or older audiences in 1975 but La donna della domenica FEELS even older than that.

Jacqueline Bisset (yes, that Jacqueline Bisset) plays a wealthy wife of an aristocrat whose philandering husband ignores her nightly, and despite their young daughter, she's quite bored with her life since there are servants and nannies to meet her every whim. Anna Carla in true Mid-Century socialite fashion is besties with a gay man, Massimo, and they ingratiate themselves into a murder mystery that accidentally involves them due to a misinterpreted letter by two recently fired servants.

Bisset is decked out like it's 1955 with carefully curled short hair and tailored dresses, which sets the tone for the entire story. It's one of the most boring mysteries I've seen to come out of Italy from the time period, likely due to its attempts to mimic Hollywood films from a good 15-20 years prior.

Really good comedy

[stefanozucchelli · 7/10 · 7 May 2022]

This movie surprised me with its lines and story that mixes an elaborate detective plot and the lightness of a light comedy. A truly colorful cast revolves around the murder of a very uninhibited and vulgar man who is killed with the right weapon for him. I will not spoilers though.

Excellent comedy; stay away if you look for a thriller!

[aminatta-1 · 9/10 · 1 April 2011]

La "Donna della domenica" is definitely one of my favorite books and a great movie. Despite being built on a murder story, this movie is not a thriller. In fact, it is rather a comedy on the Torinese society, spanning from wanna-be-intellectuals to the rich and the beautiful, from rustic land owners to simple immigrants. And as a comedy, it is an exceptional one!

If you are looking for suspense or you are not familiar with Italian society, you should stay away from it. Also, I recommend that you need to understand Italian very well to appreciate this movie: I checked a bit the German version/subtitles, but at least 50% of the humor gets lost in the translation...

Not gripping enough

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 2 February 2013]

"The Sunday Woman" seems to have many ingredients for success: a superb (as usual) music score by Ennio Morricone, a first-rate cast (Marcello Mastroianni, Jacqueline Bisset (at her most exquisite), Jean-Louis Trintignant), and it's shot in Torino, a city rarely shown in the movies. However, the end result is rather weak. There is too much talk and not enough suspense. Part of the problem may be that nobody seems to miss the first murder victim that much, so you don't feel much urgency in discovering his killer. The film occasionally hits the mark as a social satire (e.g., the late scene of all the characters gathered at the police station accusing each other), but I still think Morricone's score is by far the best thing about it. ** out of 4.

Beautiful! Must to watch

[alessandrocalvio · 10/10 · 4 May 2021]

Beautiful movie .. intrigue, sophisticated, stylish and very Italian.

Just so so

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 12 September 2021]

"The police have the victim, the weapon and the suspect. What they don't have is the Sunday Woman." You know that a movie is high class when Marcello Mastroianni plays the investigator and it's based on a book that's listed as one of the first examples of modern Italian crime novels.

Commissioner Santamaria (Mastroianni) is on the case of Garrone, an architect who was playing an intellectual game of murder within a series of letters to his friend Massimo Campi (Jean-Louis Trintignant). While investigating, Satanamaria falls for one of the suspects, Anna Carla Dosio. Can we blame him when she's played by Jacqueline Bisset?

It seems that Garrone has been killed for his blackmailing, but now that Campi's boyfriend Lello has also been killed - amongst others - the plot is thickening.

Luigi Comencini is usually the director of more high brow things than we cover here. But hey - there's a Morricone soundtrack to tether us to the tenuous connections to the giallo genre that we hold so dear. I guess I shouldn't say too high brow, as after all the main victim is murdered with a stone penis, so there's that.

Review.

[ItalianGerry · 30 July 2001]

"Sunday Woman" is a stylish and ribald whodunnit that has plenty of things to hold your attention when you're frankly not particularly interested in who did it or why. The murder victim is a lewd, leering, seedy old architect who makes obscene gestures at women, like a character out of Fellini's "Satyricon." His body is found bludgeoned to death by means of a large ceramic phallus. "Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword," a character in the film comments. The inspector on the case is a bemused but persistent Marcello Mastroianni. His investigations bring him in contact with some of Turin's high society: Jacqueline Bisset, the bored wife of an industrialist, and her platonic friend Jean-Louis Trintignant, a wealthy homosexual. Trintignant is himself in love with Aldo Reggiani, a records clerk who does his own investigation which leads to his own murder. The film has a nice rhythm, some well-written dialog, and makes use of fascinating Piedmontese locales in and around Turin. Mastroianni, as always, is very effective. The director, Luigi Comencini, gained a substantial reputation in the past with films like "Bread, Love and Dreams" and "Everybody Go Home!"

very Italian

[christopher-underwood · 8/10 · 21 April 2023]

Even though this film is very Italian and some of the comedy rather difficult it is still really enjoyable. The dialogue is rather fast and with amusing play on the words it is still great. The city of Turin the gardens, the houses and the streets are wonderful and especially the market on a Sunday towards the end. Even when it gets a bit silly there are still the three actors who are fantastic. Marcello Mastroianni is good enough although it is probably not his sort of role he loves but Jean-Louis Trintignant is great in this even though he has to play a gay couple. Trintignant's some early films really good, ...And God Created Woman (1956), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1959) and then some of his greats, The Conformist (1970) and Three Colours: Red (1994). But really splendid in this film is Jacqueline Bisset who is so lovely and really good throughout. Her first film was as an extra in, The Knack...And How to Get it (1965) and not much bigger in Cul-De-Sac (1966) although she got some great films but probably nothing better than Bullitt (1968).

Tedious Italian thriller

[The_Void · 4/10 · 15 April 2008]

I have to say, I'm really disappointed with this film. I'm a big fan of the Italian thriller known as the Giallo and while I went into this film knowing that it is not a Giallo; I was still hoping that director Luigi Comencini would be able to make the film interesting enough to at least be entertaining. The plot provides a decent base for a murder mystery flick and begins with a murder, which is promptly investigated by Commissioner Santamaria. Any chance of this being a good film is promptly cut away however by the fact that it's all so boring. The film contains practically no suspense whatsoever and while some of the exchanges between the lead characters are fairly interesting and there's a few red herrings thrown in; it really is very difficult to keep focused on The Sunday Woman. The performances are all rather flat too and most of the actors look about as bored as I must have looked watching the film. It's clear that the director wanted the film to be of high quality, and while the tatty VHS I saw it on does the film no favours, I have to say he didn't succeed there either. There's a score from the great Ennio Morricone and some Italian humour thrown in too; but I've seen better of both in other films. The Sunday Woman does have some favourable comments on it so maybe I'm just missing something here; but personally, I can't see much to like in this film.

Talk, boredom and a stone penis!

[RodrigAndrisan · 2/10 · 18 April 2020]

Without Morricone's music - which resembles that of another film he also composed - the film would have no value, the story has no interest. Mastroianni strives to play a good role and he even succeeds, he's the best of the entire cast. The second best is Claudio Gora, in a short-lived role. The other actors, including Bisset and Trintignant, are all annoying. One star for Marcello and one for Gora.

Read then see

[lalisa · 3 September 2002]

Books are usually better than movies from books, one may say it's a universal truth. And Fruttero&Lucentini's novel is better indeed in this case, read it for proof. But - surprise, surprise! - no bad movie at all: a bunch of excellent actors and actresses, all at ease in their roles (especially Mrs. Lina Volonghi, a great actress whose kind Italy should regret) and the feeling they are all having fun while acting (see the hilarious scene with Mastroianni among a group of prostitutes in the police station). Just good for one of those boring Sunday afternoons in winter.

Poor Italian comedy

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 17 March 2021]

A very poor Italian comedy, based around a cop investigating the murder of a sleazy old architect. THE SUNDAY WOMAN is a perfect example of style over substance: there's always plenty going on, lots of characters and dialogue, Jacqueline Bisset looking photogenic, and a fine Ennio Morricone score. But there the good elements end. The story is beleagured and drawn out endlessly, the mystery anything but intriguing, and the whole thing comes across as very silly - especially the murder weapon! A giallo this isn't, despite being advertised as such in some quarters. It's more of a satire on Italian social conventions, so might have been of interest to local viewers at the time, but certainly not these days.