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Two Women

1960 ‘La ciociara’ Directed by Vittorio De Sica

Suddenly, Love Becomes Lust… Innocence becomes shame… As two women are trapped by violent passion and unforgettable terror!

Widowed shopkeeper Cesira and her 13-year-old daughter Rosetta flee from the allied bombs in Rome during the second World War; they travel to the remote village where Cesira was born. During their journey and in the village and onward, the mother does everything she can to protect Rosetta. Meanwhile, a sensitive young intellectual, Michele, falls in love with Cesira.

Sophia Loren Jean-Paul Belmondo Raf Vallone Eleonora Brown Carlo Ninchi Andrea Checchi Pupella Maggio Emma Baron Antonella Della Porta Bruna Cealti Luciano Pigozzi Franco Balducci Mario Frera Curt Lowens Luciana Cortellesi Tony Calio Remo Galavotti Elsa Mancini Giuseppina Ruggeri Luigi Terribile Antonio Gastaldi Carolina Carbonaro Alberto Castaldi Vincenzo Musolino Ettore Mattia Renato Salvatori

Alternative Titles

Dos mujeres, 两个女人, 战地两女性, Duas Mulheres, Η Ατιμασμένη, 두 여인, The Woman from Ciociara, De två kvinnorna, La Paysanne aux pieds nus, Kaksi naista, La Ciociara : la Paysanne aux pieds nus, Und dennoch leben sie, 烽火母女泪, Egy asszony meg a lánya, Чочара, Чочарка, Matka i córka, Horalka, دو زن, Două femei, Dvi moterys, İki Kadın, ჩოჩარა, La camperola

Genres

War Drama

Themes

Moving relationship stories War and historical adventure Powerful poetic and passionate drama Heartbreaking and moving family drama Passion and romance Nazis and World War II Enduring stories of family and marital drama Show All…

Premiere

22 Dec 1960

ItalyT Milan

Theatrical limited

06 May 1961

France

12 Apr 2023

South Korea15

01 Jun 2023

Brazil16

Theatrical

22 Dec 1960

FranceU

23 Dec 1960

Germany16
ItalyT

09 May 1961

USANR

Physical

19 Apr 2011

Netherlands16

Brazil

01 Jun 2023

Theatrical limited16 Cinemateca Brasileira (90 Anos de Jean-Paul Belmondo)

France

22 Dec 1960

TheatricalU

06 May 1961

Theatrical limited Cannes Film Festival

Germany

23 Dec 1960

Theatrical16

Italy

22 Dec 1960

PremiereT Milan

23 Dec 1960

TheatricalT

Netherlands

19 Apr 2011

Physical16 DVD

South Korea

12 Apr 2023

Theatrical limited15 차오, 소피아 - 소피아 로렌 특별 상영전

USA

09 May 1961

TheatricalNR

100 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Sam Meltzer ★★★½ 4

Two Women is an emotional rollercoaster that doesn’t shy away from the harsh reality of war and showcases this short yet extremely powerful time in this woman’s life. At times it was difficult to sit thought, but it is so worth it. A truly beautiful film that is very short in length because it shouldn’t be long, allowing it to capture what it needs to perfectly in about 100 minutes. It may not have. the strongest screenplay or direction, but it definitely works.
Sophia Loren is… perfect. Nothing else in the film quite matched up to her performance. What she did in this movie is so extraordinary in every sense that I found it as true perfection. When she feels…
Review by 📀 Cammmalot 📀 ★★★ 2

”Who are you angry at signora?”
“Everyone”
This film from Vittorio De Sica about a mother and daughter in war torn Italy is all about Sophia Loren’s Oscar winning performance. The print I watched was an english dub of horrendous quality, and yet her abilities still leapt from the screen and made this movie engaging. I also went into it completely cold, so yes I was unprepared for and shocked by those last 20 minutes.
”Rotten thieving bastards do you know what you have done?”

Cinematic Time Capsule - 1960 Ranked
Review by shookone ★★★½

great character design by Vittorio De Sica, as usual. Sophia Loren kills it. the finale is at the same time intense and climaxing, yet unfortunately suffers of a good portion of racism en passant.
Review by luvi ★★★ 7

This started out - and stayed, for the most part - an emotional snapshot of humanity during the last hour of WWII.
So yeah I am deeply saddened alright.
Saddened that the last portion of the film after that scene was so poorly structured it felt, quite frankly, wasted. I understand that it's not the only problem that sequence has and I do not indend to justify it, but the racial issue pales in comparison to the mistreatment of emotional trauma in a neorealist piece that had so far been so very sensitive to all sides.
It could've been magnificent, and yet it doesn't live up to its own premises.
Review by theironcupcake ★★½ 9

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

"You can do without a lot of things, but not love."
(Warning: spoilers ahead, including the ending.)
After revisiting Mario Monicelli's Big Deal on Madonna Street and finding that it held up far better than I remembered, I decided to do a double feature inspired by editor Adriana Novelli and rewatch another Italian cinema classic that she worked on, Vittorio De Sica's WWII period piece Two Women. Unfortunately I have to report a polar opposite reaction; the powerful drama in my memories turned out to be a mediocrity.
I don't blame Sophia Loren (winner of the Best Actress Oscar) or Jean-Paul Belmondo, who do the best they can in this poorly paced story as a widowed mother and fervent antifascist,…
Review by Jumpingfrog ★★★★

Two Women could have been a very different film. Originally envisioned as an Italian/ American co-production to star Anna Magnani as the mother and 26 year old Sophia Loren as the daughter it was to have been directed by Hollywood legend George Cukor. However Magnani dropped out (possibly as she felt she was too young to play Loren's mother) as did Cukor and Paramount. Former Italian neorealist Vittorio de Sica (he of Bicycle Thieves) took over the direction, gave Loren the role of the mother (playing slightly above her own age) and in a change from the source novel her daughter became a adolescent child played by newcomer 12 year old Eleonora Brown. A fortuitous decision as the film was…
Review by Zoë 🐝 ★★ 31

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

TW: rape
Was legitimately enjoying this (mostly because of Sophia Loren's performance) until 20 minutes from the end when Sophia Loren's character and her 12 year old daughter get gang raped by the only Black men in the entire movie, and later it is implied the same men raped half of a nearby village! I'm sorry, is this The Birth of A Nation? What kind of racist bullshit is this?!
EDIT: I recommend reading the comments for an expanded discussion from some different viewpoints on the rape scene in the film.
Review by Taylor Leverage ★★★½

A solid retrospective on the civilian experience in World War II, as the lovely Sophia Loren takes on the mantle of a woman escaping the bombing raids of Rome in the countryside, with her teenage daughter in tow. Initially flush with cash, the pair face hardships as the war seeps out into the fields and food becomes scarce, but the film's defining, climactic moment only comes late in the runtime, as the two are brutally assaulted by a group of soldiers while making their way back to Rome. While Loren's Oscar-winning performance is intense and proved she was capable of far more than being just a face - the haunted, lingering imprint that the conflict leaves on those who lived…
Review by robby ★★★★½

Se sono costretta a leggere l'ennesima recensione scritta da statunitensi che non hanno nessuna conoscenza sulla Liberazione mi strappo i bulbi oculari
Review by Jenna Ipcar ★★★ 2

Sophia Loren finally got a chance to showcase her true acting chops and she did not let it pass her by. She’s the heart and soul of the entire film, pretty much the only fully fleshed out character where all others around her exist in sketches of various depth. John Paul Belmondo makes for a surprisingly convincing Bible nerd—uh, I mean, man of learning. I loved the contrast between his astute political mindedness and contempt towards fascism while the majority of the countryside shrugs through their own oppression. Made me think of how with the Internet we both have more vocal political discourse and yet probably an equal amount of indifference all the same. It’s hard to carry the burden…
Review by BrandonHabes ★★★★★ 5

Notice the photographs at the beginning as the credits roll. These casual, pedestrian images appear to be “real life” events during wartime Italy, frozen in time and perfectly still, silent, and undisturbed. It would be easy to forget there’s a savage war raging outside these banal photographs, and even easier to think the residents depicted were living during a time of peace. The final still image now becomes a tableaux of moving bodies in the city, and almost immediately the sense of normal is threatened by the sound of air raids as the people scatter in fear, ducking to take shelter. This is the pattern that defines the entire film: stasis, rupture, seeking sanctuary. War begins on the periphery and…
Review by ana ★★★★

sophia loren is mesmerizing as a woman fighting for herself and more importantly, the life of her daughter, from the horrors of war as it dwindles down. it's a harrowing performance that tears at the heart and show the impact war has on people who just want to live.

Where to watch

Two Women

Synopsis

Suddenly, Love Becomes Lust… Innocence becomes shame… As two women are trapped by violent passion and unforgettable terror!

Cast

Director Director

Producer Producer

Writer Writer

Original Writer Original Writer

Editor Editor

Cinematography Cinematography

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Production Design Production Design

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Special Effects Special Effects

Composer Composer

Sound Sound

Costume Design Costume Design

Makeup Makeup

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Studios

Countries

Primary Language

Spoken Languages

Alternative Titles

Genres

Themes

Premiere

22 Dec 1960

Theatrical limited

06 May 1961

12 Apr 2023

01 Jun 2023

Theatrical

22 Dec 1960

23 Dec 1960

09 May 1961

Physical

19 Apr 2011

Brazil

01 Jun 2023

France

22 Dec 1960

06 May 1961

Germany

23 Dec 1960

Italy

22 Dec 1960

23 Dec 1960

Netherlands

19 Apr 2011

South Korea

12 Apr 2023

USA

09 May 1961

Popular reviews

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Director

Producer

Writer

Original Writer

Editor

Cinematography

Assistant Directors

Camera Operator

Production Design

Set Decoration

Special Effects

Composer

Sound

Costume Design

Makeup

Hairstyling