L'Invitée (1969)
Directed by Vittorio De Seta

Film Review

L'Invitée (a.k.a. L'Invitata) is the second of two Franco-Italian films directed by the Italian filmmaker Vittorio De Seta, the other being Un uomo a metà (1966).  Prior to these two films, De Seta had won widespread acclaim with his realist drama Banditi a Orgosolo (1961), his first feature after a series of stunning short films depicting the lives and traditions of Italy's working class poor.  Although he is widely regarded as one of the great realists of Italian cinema, De Seta never lived up to his early promise and his work is largely forgotten.  L'Invitée is one of his most overlooked films, an idiosyncratic romantic drama that feels curiously like a gritty road movie version of Un homme et une femme.

Whilst it is a little uneven, overlong and reads too obviously as an over-enthusiastic homage to the French New Wave, L'Invitée has an unmistakable charm, which derives partly from Luciano Tovoli's crisply realist cinematography, and partly from the indefinable rapport between lead actors Michel Piccoli and Joanna Shimkus (now known as Lady Poitier since she subsequently married the actor-turned-diplomat Sidney Poitier).  The previous year, Shimkus's profile had been raised by her appearance alongside Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in Joseph Losey's film Boom! (1968).

Although neither of the main characters openly expresses feelings of affection or tenderness for the other, we can easily see some mysterious chemistry at work as the leads wend their way across the picturesque wintry byways of France.  De Seta's distinctive cinematic style and penchant for capturing the natural warmth of human interaction instantly call to mind the work of Claude Sautet, whose first important film, Les Choses de la vie (1970), which also starred Michel Piccoli and was released in France six months later.  L'Invitée was not a success and after this setback De Seta's subsequent career was pretty sporadic, his main achievement being the television serial Diario di un maestro (1972).

Film Synopsis

In Paris, Anne, a young designer, is awaiting the return of her husband Laurent, a biologist who is often away from home attending conferences.  When he returns home late in the night, Laurent is accompanied by an attractive young English woman, Lorna.  Suspecting that her husband has taken a mistress, Anne walks out on him and spends the night at the office where she works.  The following morning, her employer François, a successful architect, invites her to accompany him on a long car journey to the south of France, where he has arranged to meet up with his wife.  Anne accepts, hoping this will help cure her present bout of depression.  Neither Anne nor François are looking to start a relationship but somehow they soon find they are drawn to one another...