Product Details

• Actors: Monica Vitti, Maurice Ronet, Robert Hossein, Claudio Brook, Albert Simono
• Format: Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: French
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Pathfinder Home Ent.
• DVD Release Date: October 7, 2003
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00008K795
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #221,295 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Scarlet Lady" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

SCARLET LADY (LA FEMME ECARLATE) - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Venni, 'Vitti', Vicci ..., August 2, 2010

By 

4-Legged Defender "Anthony C. Rubbo" (ATL. GA.) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Scarlet Lady (DVD)

(La Femme Ecarlate - 1968) Michelangelo Antonioni's muse Monica Vitti stars in this late 60's tale of a woman, Eva, who finds out she's been swindled out of her family's fortune and Perfume Empire by her lover and marketing manager Julien. Decidedly distraught, she decides to kill him and do away with her own life, but not before feasting on champagne, caviar, candlelight and Nembutal (a narcotic) - 'makes checking out seem rather pleasant, doesn't it?

She goes to Paris, pawns the last of her jewelry, checks into a hotel, steals a pistol, buys a luxury Austin Princess automobile, and goes on one last shopping spree, purchasing furs, clothing, accessories, etc. like there's (literally) no tomorrow.

A chance encounter with an earnest business executive and deep sea diver ( Maurice Ronet) suddenly introduces the possibility of a solid romance, but only if he succeeds in racing against the clock to deter her from her self-destructive mission at a designated time and place.

What begins as a somber treatment of deep internal malaise and mental disintegration gradually gives way to an epicurean adventure about 1/3 of the way through the movie, becoming a lightweight, lighthearted romp where Vitti discovers the pleasure of simply being alive. She meets a rock group and their manager at a press conference and gets sucked into a vortex of 60's free-spiritedness and the superficial trappings of Parisienne life, dancing in nightclubs, going and coming at all hours with `the boys', engaging in recreational drugs, and meets an Argentinean tycoon who's obsessed with her, though she doesn't share his emotions. But there's still the desire to exact revenge on the man who ruined her, so the clock is still ticking...

For those who know Monica Vitti only from the grim existential parables of Antonioni's work, as I did, it's a switch to see her go from a sigh of despair to the laughter of joy in what almost becomes a comedy, and she's fetching in her role. Though maybe a bit miscast as a hellraiser, an actress of her caliber was needed to bring the drama to both the film's beginning and finale. The film steered off-course at times in the middle with all the carousing with the rockers and other suitors, and didn't seem focused with whether it wanted to be a drama or a comedy, but if you're a fan of 60's style, décor and fashion, you might want to check out 'The Scarlet Lady', and let Monica "Venni, 'Vitti', Vicci" all over you.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, January 6, 2012

By 

republic of letters (OH, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Scarlet Lady (DVD)

I enjoyed very much this movie. I ended up watching it three times (once with my wife). Maurice Ronet is fantastic. Anyway, good European movie.