I Knew Her Well

A beautiful young woman glides through life bewitching the men around her in Antonio Pietrangeli’s I Knew Her Well (Io la conoscevo bene). Stefania Sandrelli, a knockout in real life who won a beauty contest and went to Rome to become a film star, plays Adriana Astarelli (similarly alliterative names surely no coincidence), a beauty following the same route but falling into every trap along the way. Pietrangeli’s camera first finds Adriana lying topless on her front in the sun on the beach, glides up her legs and over her buttocks before following Adriana back to the beauty salon where she is meant to be working. By the time she gets back there … Read more