There is a version with Russian soundtrack which has been restored and uploaded by Mosfilm in Feb 2022. The Italian version remains elusive, not sure if it is better, or if it even exists. The principal actors feel a bit strange in Russian, it take a bit of getting used to. I always thought Visconti's The Damned and Ludwig and Cavani's The Night Porter were much better in English as the actors had spoken English during the filming. This film is set in Portugal during the Estado Novo (Salazar had an accident in 1968 and died in 1970, Estat Novo lasted until 1974) and so the Mercedes Benz taxi that Giancarlo Giannini drives is from the 60s, the police cars from the early 70s & Giannini's clothes are from a bit later in the 70s. The Soviet director Chukhrai wouldn't have clocked the period clothing probably coming from behind the iron curtain. But this dissonance, the lack of clarity about where and when, could be one reason why the film wasn't a big hit and has been forgotten.
Review of Life Is Beautiful
