''Metti, una sera a cena'' (a.k.a. "Love Circle", literally "Let's Say, an Evening for Dinner") is a 1969 Italian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Giuseppe Patroni Griffi Giuseppe Patroni Griffi (26 February 1921 – 15 December 2005) was an Italian playwright, screenwriter, director and author. He was born in Naples in an aristocratic family and moved to Rome immediately after the end of World War II and spent ...

. It was entered into the

1969 Cannes Film Festival The 22nd Cannes Film Festival took place from 8 to 23 May 1969. Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti served as jury president for the main competition. The ''Grand Prix du Festival International du Film'', then the fetival's main prize, was awarde ...

. The film was described as "a bourgeois comedy that trespassed conventional moral lim- its and presented a picture of—and encouraged—a new freedom of casual sexual relations."

Florinda Bolkan Florinda Bolkan (born Florinda Soares Bulcão; 15 February 1941) is a retired Brazilian actress and model. Early life She was born in Uruburetama and lived in Fortaleza and Rio de Janeiro until she moved to Italy. A former flight inspector fo ...

received a Targa d'oro and a

Grolla d'oro The ("Golden Grole"; pl.: ) is one of the oldest Italian film awards. The award was founded in 1953 and ran until 1981; after some years of hiatus, it was relaunched in 1989 by journalist Maurizio Costanzo and, above all, by the film critic ( ...

for her performance in the film, while

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...

won the

Nastro d'argento The (plural: ''Nastri d'Argento''; English: Silver Ribbon) is an Italian film award, held since 1946 by the ''Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani'' (Italian National Union of Film Journalists). Awards are given annually in ...

for the best original soundtrack in 1970.

Plot

Michel is a successful bourgeois playwright who fantasizes an affair between his beautiful wife, Nina , and his best friend, Max, a bisexual actor. Unbeknownst to him, the pair have in fact been lovers for years, though Max is really in love with Michel. While Nina is occupied with Max, Michel drifts into an affair with a rich, but lonely, single woman. The four meet regularly for dinner at the home of Michel and Nina where they indulge in bored, amoral conversation. As a diversion, Max suggests to Nina that they add a third player to their bedroom games: Ric, Max's anarchist/poet boyfriend who lives in a dankly luxurious basement and sells himself to both men and women. After a while, Ric finds himself falling in love with Nina and eventually attempts suicide over her. Nina discovers Ric in time to save him and decides to leave Michel to live with Ric. But soon their relationship withers and Nina returns to her husband. It's then that Michel decides to invite Ric into the circle, as they go on meeting at dinner and playing their games of love and seduction.

Cast

Jean-Louis Trintignant Jean-Louis Xavier Trintignant (; 11 December 1930 – 17 June 2022) was a French actor. He made his theatrical debut in 1951, and went on to be regarded as one of the best French dramatic actors of the post-World War II, war era. He starred in m ...

as Michel * Lino Capolicchio as Ric *

Tony Musante Anthony Peter Musante Jr. (June 30, 1936 – November 26, 2013) was an American actor, best known for the TV series '' Toma'' as Detective David Toma, Nino Schibetta in '' Oz'' (1997), and Joe D'Angelo in ''As the World Turns'' (2000–2003). I ...

as Max *

as Nina *

Annie Girardot Annie Suzanne Girardot (25 October 193128 February 2011) was a French actress. She often played strong-willed, independent, hard-working, and often lonely women, imbuing her characters with an earthiness and reality that endeared her to women un ...

as Giovanna * Silvia Monti as Actress at Press Conference * Milly as Singer *

Adriana Asti Adriana Asti (born 30 April 1931) is an Italian stage, film, and voice actress. Biography Adriana Asti appeared very young in Dino Risi's short film Buio in sala, shot in 1948. She made her theatrical debut in 1951 acting in Plautus' Miles Glo ...

as Stepdaughter * Titina Maselli as Mother *

Ferdinando Scarfiotti Ferdinando Scarfiotti (6 March 1941 – 30 April 1994) was an Italian art director and production designer. After graduating in architecture at the University of Rome, he was approached by Luchino Visconti, who asked him to design his stag ...

as Son * Claudio Carrozza as Baby * Nora Ricci as 1st Actress *

Mariano Rigillo Mariano Rigillo (born 12 September 1939) is an Italian actor. Biography In the 1960s, Rigillo attended the Silvio d'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts and began his career on stage playing roles in plays by William Shakespeare, Carlo Gol ...

as Comedian * Antonio Jaia as Young Actor

Production

The production "consolidated Dario Argento's">Dario_Argento.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Dario Argento">Dario Argento'srelationship with two individuals who would prove crucial to ''The Bird with the Crystal Plumage'', actor

(who would play Argento's protagonist, Sam Dalmas) and producer Goffrey Lombardo."

Reception

''Il Morandini'' writes about the film: "From a play ..that somehow managed to suggest an existential desperation and the ash-flavoured erotic games. Here, in their perverse acrobatics and drawing-room suffering, the characters are the triumph of the fake. Well acted, though? Very well." ''FilmTv.it'' stated: "Giuseppe Patroni Griffi brings one of his greatest theatrical successes to the screen, but the ambiguous family portrait of the original fades into the film's self-serving aestheticism. Beautiful, but

Pirelli calendar The Pirelli Calendar, known and trade-marked as "The Cal", is an annual trade calendar which has been published by the UK subsidiary of the Italian tyre manufacturing company Pirelli since 1964. The calendar has a reputation for its choice of p ...

-like, are the erotic images photographed by Tonino Delli Colli." The film is also remembered for

's original soundtrack.

Awards

* 1969 -

Festival de Cannes The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around t ...

** Palme d'Or nomination * 1969 -

David di Donatello The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's ''David (Donatello, bronze), David'', a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance, are film awards given out each year by the ''Accademia del Cinema Italiano'' (the Academy of Italian Cin ...

** Targa d'oro: Florinda Bolkan- won * 1969 -

** Best actress: Florinda Bolkan-won * 1970 -

** Best soundtrack: Ennio Morricone-won

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Metti Una Sera A Cena 1969 films 1969 drama films 1960s Italian-language films Italian drama films Italian films based on plays Films directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films with screenplays by Dario Argento Films about male bisexuality 1960s Italian films Italian-language drama films