Le Amiche

Le amiche () is a 1955 Italian black-and-white drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Eleonora Rossi Drago, Gabriele Ferzetti, Franco Fabrizi, and Valentina Cortese. Adapted from Cesare Pavese's novel "Tra donne sole" (1949), the film is about a young woman who returns to her native Turin to set up a new fashion salon and becomes involved with a troubled woman and her three wealthy friends. The film was shot on location in Turin, Piemonte, Italy. "Le amiche" received the Venice Film Festival's Silver Lion award in 1955, and the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon Award for Best Director (Michelangelo Antonioni) and Best Supporting Actress (Valentina Cortese).
Plot.
Returning to her native Turin for the opening of a branch of a Rome fashion salon, the elegant Clelia (Eleonora Rossi Drago) discovers a young woman named Rosetta Savoni (Madeleine Fischer) near death in the next room of her hotel. Rosetta took an overdose of sleeping pills trying to commit suicide. Clelia, who is alone in her hometown, befriends Rosetta and her three wealthy friends. Momina De Stefani (Yvonne Furneaux) is separated from her husband and easily replaces lovers. Nene (Valentina Cortese) is a talented artist becoming successful in her career; she lives with a frustrated painter named Lorenzo (Gabriele Ferzetti) who envies his wife's success. Mariella (Anna Maria Pancani) is futile. Clelia is attracted by Carlo (Ettore Manni), the assistant of the salon's architect, Cesare Pedoni (Franco Fabrizi), but he belongs to the working class living in a different social reality. When Momina and Clelia discover that Rosetta tried to commit suicide because she fell in love with Lorenzo, the cynical Momina encourages Rosetta to stay with him, although he and Nene were supposed to marry soon. This advice leads to tragedy.
Production.
The script for "Le amiche" was adapted from a novel by Cesare Pavese. It is one of the few adaptations Antonioni directed, the others being "Blowup" (based on a short story by Julio Cortázar); "The Mystery of Oberwald" (adapted from Jean Cocteau's play "L'Aigle à deux têtes", which Cocteau had previously adapted to film); and his final feature, "Beyond the Clouds" (1995), based on a book of his own short stories. Antonioni wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Suso Cecchi d'Amico and Alba De Cespedes.
The film was shot on location in Turin through the Trionfalcine production company and distributed in Italy through Titanus.