Luigi Comencini
Persiane chiuse

THE REVIEW

Closed Shutters is a 1950 film featuring Elena Rossi Drago, Giulietta Masina, Massimo Girotti, Liliana Gerace.

From 1950, directed by a then just-emerging Luigi Comencini, Closed Shutters is the story of two sisters. Sandra (Elena Rossi Drago), an employee and the fiancée of engineer Roberto (Massimo Girotti), and Lucia (Liliana Gerace).

The film is set in Turin.

Three years ago, Lucia left the family, her father's house, for a man.

She was disowned by her father, who was aware that Lucia had gotten involved in a bad crowd: prostitution.

Sandra knows nothing, but one day she receives a phone call, after so long, from her sister. She tells her that she is unwell, that she needs help, that she's staying at a boarding house on via… but when Sandra arrives, Lucia has vanished.

In search of her sister, Sandra, who will be assisted by Pippo (Giulietta Masina), a prostitute with a daughter depending on her, unfortunately given to alcohol, ends up entering a veritable infernal circle that will shock her.

Closed Shutters is a faithful and merciless portrait of the world of prostitution in Italy immediately after the war.

The degradation and squalor of this environment are depicted with a steady hand, free from the superficial accusatory moralism typical of that era and of Catholic origin, and from any judgment.

Single mothers, older women, and naïve young girls who end up on the streets without even realizing it, or even girls with mental problems, easy prey for those running the racket.

Brothels, pubs, tabarin, the sidewalk make up the scenario around which this humanity moves.

The film had a complicated genesis. It was initially supposed to be directed by Gianni Puccini, an old-school director, who, due to health reasons, dropped out right after the first takes.

The task was then entrusted to young Comencini, who had a few interesting documentaries and a couple of not particularly memorable films under his belt.

In progress, Comencini found himself directing a film that wasn't his, neither conceived nor written by him. Furthermore, there was the matter of dealing with the censor that repeatedly hindered the shooting, imposing cuts and modifications.

Nonetheless, the film succeeds. It's a brave film despite the censor's yoke and hits the target. If any criticism is to be made, Closed Shutters seems quite dated today, at times emphatic, old-school indeed… but, for heaven's sake, it is a film that’s almost 70 years old!

Federico Fellini also collaborated on the screenplay and directed, among other things, the magnificent opening scene of a young prostitute's body being retrieved from the Po.