the audience applauded

So much average

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Tornatore is an excellent film-maker. Inheritor of italian melodrama masters, he has the touch, a total control over his films emotional power. He makes it look simple. So yes, I was tempted to give this a higher rating. Not too much, though. The thing is, Tornatore is one of those few directors able to turn almost anything into gold. There are ridiculous flasbacks all over, conveniently remembered just when they´re needed. That doesn´t feel like a well planned script, more like details he just forgot to include. He´s so quick, so confident, though, that in a few seconds it´s over and we´re on to the next thing, which makes it easily forgivable. This happens all the time. Too many events feel like improvised writing, like the street beating half way through, what was up with that? Mystery is achieved by not giving any information at all, misleading the audience about the main character´s intentions right until the end, where it´s all explained in a rushed way. To me that´s too little too late. For over an hour we´re left in the dark and we get to see misfortunes and flashbacks accumulate in the hope of enlightening. It´s ironic how this film has been defined as "hitchcockian" when Hitchcock based all his suspense precisely on providing information to his audience, in the right amounts in the right moments. The opposite, which is what happens in "The Unknown Woman", turn the big moments colder. This foul is masked here by the schocking character of some scenes which will get a reaction out of the audience no matter how accidental they are. On top of that, it doesn´t know if it wants to be a thriller or a drama and those genre traits get in the way of each other. Some might appreciate this as some kind of global film, but I feel it could have lost all the cheap thrills in favor of being a full house melodrama.Ultimately, it´s a well intentioned, enjoyable mess about the courage of an immensely mistreated woman. Tornatore turns random events into film lessons but I can´t shake off the fact that this failed experiment would be an absolute disaster in less skilled hands. If you add up the genius of Morricone, who can make stones cry, this a terrible movie disguised as an auteur thriller. The core of the film is clumsy and, more important than that, it left me surprisingly cold when all was said and done.I must recommend a kind of similar film, "Chaos" (2001) by Coline Serreau, which, in my humble opinion, is an absolute masterclass on multi-genre, socially aware thriller film-making.

I have seen some Italian classics but not this! Many disturbing movies brings about some terrible horror sequence out of the way to show the audience that this is a terrible movie. This movie doesn't have such things. Hats off to the director who made such a script (a strong one). The screenplay is a bit complex and not all can accept the fact that this is a dark gem. If you can understand the screenplay, you wont complaint!I have to give the credits to the lead character all the way! I hardly recognize these actors but once the movie started off, I started traveling with the lead character. This is how a movie should be. The visuals were excellent. They were lovely at some places, haunting at some places, sexy at some but also horror at some. Very good images lifts the essence of the movie to a whole new level. I cant find any mistakes in the screenplay and I have to tell you this is a rare piece - a dark gem out there. Don't miss the experience.Must watch. Highly recommended.

Being of Italian birth and upbringing,I usually watch a lot of these movies.Most of the time I find them to be spaghetti for the brain or just a way to fill a couple of hours. This was on our local public station last Friday night and my partner and I watched it. Believe me when I tell you that it blew our socks off with it's very exacting script,excellent acting and a plot that didn't really become clear till the last five or ten minutes of the movie.In other words a real cliff-hanger. I would purchase this film tomorrow if I could but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available in my zone. Ah well,hope it gets repeated real soon.

It's 8/09, and I've just seen the DVD..a very 'difficult story to follow and decipher' on one viewing.However, no pro critic,or contributor to this Web. explains what "I believe is Irena's reason for becoming a maid in this household".All observers point out her past as a Sex Slave/prostitute in the Ukraine,but no one explains specifically why she has pin-pointed this family ,and in particular the little girl,to work for. The family are jewelry producers...the wife,I believe,designs and makes expensive jewelry. Among Irena's flashbacks to her earlier trade,we see her lying, battered by her bald client,with a specific piece of jewelry in her hand. She turns it over and 'We see the name of the family for whom she now is a maid in Italy'..YES, I believe that she departs from the Ukraine and her sexual slavery to seek out specifically this family..and this child.Why? Recall the flashback scenes when the sex slave girls are delivering newborn..lacking contraception,or for other reasons, these girls are apparently impregnated by their clients,who refuse to use condoms, and seemingly Irena not only is impregnated,but delivers a baby girl, who is purchased by an Italian couple.YES, the pimp gets the dough.So, what links Irena with the Italian family who adopts a foreign born infant.Check the name on the piece of jewelry in Irena's hand. And,lastly,why does Irena 'demand that this little girl',with a mental disorder which causes her to accept being a victim,learn to defend herself against all aggression,particularly little boys who push/hit her,causing her to fall and be injured.We must ask," why didn't Irena rebel against her Pimp.. and being victimized as a sex slave, and would she have allowed her own daughter to accept being a 'defenseless victim' . YES, she loves this little girl and completely devoted to her..and may even plot to recover her abandoned child..here in Italy..Welcome comments..