eyeseehot Review of The Fiances

The Fiances (1963)

Beautiful, elegant modernism, but too short on story and character.

[10 February 2006]

This is elegant sixties modernism with a subtle socialist thrust. With a bit too much technique, concentration on beautiful, striking shots and fragmented narration studded with flashbacks, the story and characters, though interesting, don't have quite enough weight to involve the viewer. The modernist love of the cryptic goes a little overboard, though in an intriguing way, as for example in the long opening sequence in a dance hall as people gather for the dance and you take a while to figure out what's going on. The man takes a career opportunity to move up from welding by going to work at a distant, isolated plant. The plant and its environs represent industrial capitalism and the city overspreading the countryside. Arresting moments, like the dog straying into the church, or the young boy working very fast in the restaurant, as well as the individuality of a variety of people glimpsed in passing, give the movie a mysterious and moving charm. Yet telling so much of the story without dialog weakens our sense of the characters. It draws you in slowly but a bit too much is withheld. Il Posto stays closer to the characters and feels warmer, though the ending of Fidanzati has magic.