Scalera Film (Italy)
Directed by Vittorio De Sica
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Criterion Collection)
Little Prico watches in dismay as his mother talks to a stranger in a park. It turns out to be an old lover she can't seem to shake, and leaves the family for him in the middle of the night. She returns a few days later for the sake of the boy, but her husband is understandably upset. They decide to take a brief vacation at a large hotel and things seem to be getting back to normal, when the lover unexpectedly shows up. Tragedy and pathos follow. De Sica gets an amazing performance out of 7-year-old Luciano De Ambrosis as the boy, particularly in the difficult final scene which he pulls off flawlessly. Early De Sica "neo realist" work, but mixes in a little too much melodrama to make it a true classic.
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