The Empty Canvas

La noia

Italy, France

1963

105 Min

Black and White

Italian

Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
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SCR Damiano Damiani, Tonino Guerra, Ugo Liberatore, Alberto Moravia

CAST Bette Davis, Horst Buchholz, Catherine Spaak, Isa Miranda, Lea Padovani, Daniela Rocca, Georges Wilson, Leonida Repaci, Edoardo Nevola, Daniela Calvino, Amos Davoli, Marcella Rovena, Micaela Dazzi, Dany París, Renato Moretti, Mario Lanfranchi, Luigi Giuliani, Jole Mauro, Rita Pavone

Mediocre artist Dino is obsessed with young model Cecilia and distraught that she shares her sexual favors not only with him but with actor Luciani as well. In an effort to derail her plan to vacation in Capri with his rival, Dino proposes marriage, and when she rejects his offer he invites Cecilia to join him at the Rome estate of his domineering mother, a wealthy American, in the hope he can seduce her with his glamorous lifestyle. Despairing that he will never have a monogamous relationship with her, he crashes his sportscar into a wall. While recovering in the hospital, he realizes his feelings will never be reciprocated. When Cecilia returns from her trip assuming their liaison will continue, Dino announces the affair is over. —Wikipedia

Director

Damiano Damiani

Damiano Damiani (born 23 July 1922) is an Italian screenwriter, film director, actor and writer. He was born in Pasiano di Pordenone, Friuli

Damiani began making short documentaries in the late ‘40s, and was writing and assistant directing features by the mid-’50s. He debuted as a director in 1960 with the prize-winning Il Rossetto (aka Lipstick), and over the decade helmed such offbeat films as the Alberto Moravia adaptation La Noia (aka The Empty Canvas) with Bette Davis, the occult romance La Strega In Amore (aka The Witch), and the violent spaghetti western Quien Sabe? (aka A Bullet for the General).
His contribution to the Italian political cinema, it was very important, with such films as Il Giorno della Civetta (aka The Day of the Owl), Io Ho Paura (aka I Am Afraid), Perchè si uccide un magistrato (aka How To Kill A Judge), L’istruttoria è chiusa: dimentichi! (aka The Case Is Closed, Forget It), and much more…

His later films include the crime drama Confessione… read more