I Knew Her Well (1965)

[Scottie]

I Knew Her Well (1965)

This prismatic portrait of the days and nights of a party girl in sixties Rome is a revelation. On the surface, I Knew Her Well, directed by Antonio Pietrangeli, plays like an inversion of La dolce vita with a woman at its center, following the gorgeous, seemingly liberated Adriana (Divorce Italian Style’s Stefania Sandrelli) as she dallies with a wide variety of men, attends parties, goes to modeling gigs, and circulates among the rich and famous. Despite its often light tone, though, the film is a stealth portrait of a suffocating culture that regularly dehumanizes people, especially women. A seriocomic character study that never strays from its complicated central figure while keeping us at an emotional remove, I Knew Her Well is one of the most overlooked films of the sixties, by turns hilarious, tragic, and altogether jaw-dropping.

New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with actor Stefania Sandrelli
New interview with film scholar Luca Barattoni about the career of director Antonio Pietrangeli
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by journalist and author Alexander Stille