Necessary Love
In the 19th century Europe, an aging scheming couple decides to manipulate and seduce a couple of young newlyweds in love, just for the fun of it.
Fabio Carpi
Casts & Crew
Also Directed by Fabio Carpi
The study of semantics has convinced Amedio (Jean Rochefort) that things only have relative validity, and that everything is changeable. So it seems, because while on an Italian holiday with his family, he conceives the idea that his aging wife (Marie-Christine Barrault) should assume the role of his mother, and his daughter (Jacqueline Lustig), who has an infant son, should assume the role of his wife and lover. His real mother (Lila Kedrova), an elderly invalid, dies just as this conceit begins to take form, and, inexplicably, the women placidly go along with this odd notion for a time, but eventually return to their former roles.
Simon (O.E. Hasse) fought in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), but now he is an old man, readying himself for death. His daily life is filled with memories, reveries, feelings, and small but meaningful encounters; these are the stuff the film is made up of. Some of the musings are of a hallucinatory nature, as when he meets with a tramp during imaginary walks. Others are more ordinary, as when he interacts with his son's family or enjoys looking at the pretty women in the building across the street.
A movie from the italian director Fabio Carpi.
Though he is near death, blind Rene, an elderly Italian-French intellectual, continues to make his annual conference abroad accompanied by his self-centered loyal, beautiful assistant Sibilla who may or may not be his lover. Rene's domineering mother strongly disapproves of Sibilla and his continual galavanting, but Rene disregards her and goes anyway. While in Spain, Sibilla falls for a handsome young toreador who also captures the interest of Rene, though it is hard to say whether his feelings for the bullfighter are fatherly or more romantic. It is also unclear as to whether Sibilla and the bullfighter are lovers either. Thus an enigmatic romantic triangle forms until Rene and Sibilla suddenly decide to wed. The character of Rene seems to be closely patterned after Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.
The lives of the surviving members of the Basileus Quartet, a chamber group that has been playing successfully around the world for more than 30 years, are turned upside down after the death of the leader, Oscar Guarneri. The three aging musicians decide to split up to pursue those pleasures they've denied themselves too long.
An estranged father and son on holiday bond over the beautiful foreign girl they find unconscious on the beach.