By Greg Goodsell(aka ADUA E LE COMPAGNE)
Directed by Antonio Pietrangeli
Buy Adua & Her Friends (Adua e Le Compagne)
on DVD Simone Signoret plays the title role of Adua, a mother hen to a trio of fellow prostitutes Lolita (Sandra Milo), Marilian (Emmanuelle Riva) Milly (Gina Rovere). Turned out of their brothel with the enacting of the Merlin Law of 1959 that closed all such establihments in Rome, the four try to make a go of it by opening a restaurant in the country. Pooling their savings together to rent a long disused building, they fall short and call on a wealthy former John, Dr. Ercoli (perpetual Italian bad guy Claudio Gora) to finance their business venture. He agrees, but stipulates that for the frist few months the restaurant must not engage in any shady activities -- until he says otherwise, the four women paying him an exorbitant monthly fee in the process. The restaurant at first is a success. Auda begins a fling with playboy Piero (perpetual Italian romantic foil Marcello Mastroianni), Milly first rebuffs and then accepts a proposal of marriage from a straight-arrow customer and Marlina brings her estranged young son to live briefly in her new "family" environment. However -- their male dominated society won't let the girls get on with their lives, and all their hard work and dreams come crashing to the ground. The ladies, without a roof over their head as decreed by law, must now take to the streets ...
on Amazon.com