I Knew Her Well

Stefania Sandrelli (Germi’s Divorce Italian Style, Bertolucci’s The Conformist) is a naïve girl from the provinces seduced by the swirl of big-city life — and a cad or two — in Antonio Pietrangeli’s bittersweet, dark-edged social comedy. Adriana comes to Rome dreaming of movie stardom and love, but finds herself taken advantage of in a series of professional and personal relationships. Offering a poignant portrait of crushed innocence, I Knew Her Well is a little-seen treasure of Italian cinema and one of the finest films of the underrated Pietrangeli, a prominent screenwriter during the neorealist period. Critic Paolo Vecchi describes Pietrangeli was "an original but always somewhat marginal figure" who, here and in his other mid-1960s works, created “unforgettable female figures while at the same time refining a distinctly personal film language." Ettore Scola (whose Drama of Jealousy also screens in this series) co-wrote the script. "One of the better Italian films of the year...Sandrelli is fine in the lead, displaying personality, unusual looks and temperament. Ugo Tognazzi shines in a cameo of a one-time star on the skids, and Nino Manfredi is likewise fine as a press agent of sorts" (Variety, 1966). B&W, 35mm, in Italian with English subtitles. 120 mins.