The Sunday Woman Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

The Sunday Woman Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 23, 2023

The Sunday Woman is one of those films where a cast with pretty substantial marquee value would seem to suggest a potential blockbuster, but despite this being the only title featuring this particular trifecta of international superstars, chances are probably quite high many have never even heard of this 1975 production. One of the newly produced supplements Radiance Films has aggregated for this release presents Italian cinema expert Richard Dyer, who discusses how a bestselling and in some ways trailblazing quasi-crime novel matriculated to film, albeit evidently with some changes made along the way, as so often tends to be the case. Dyer makes the case that the film is both more and less comedic than the book in various ways, while also perhaps being a bit more circumspect about some of its depictions of both class and what Dyer terms "regional" differences in Italy (Turin, to be exact), which Dyer avers are at least as important a plot point as any "whodunit" aspects in what is supposedly a murder mystery. In that regard, despite this film coming out in the supposedly libertine mid seventies, the fact that the murder weapon is a gigantic stone phallus may have been too provocative for some audiences, even if that aspect is kinda sorta played for at least some laughs. But there's also the somewhat unusual fact that the typically masculine, suave and sexy Jean-Louis Trintignant portrays a gay man, which may have sent more prudish types into reactive mode.

Dyer isn't especially shy about mentioning some arguable deficits of the adapted screenplay by Age and Scarpelli (otherwise known as Agenore Incrocci and Furio Scarpelli), including the fact that some aspects of the actual motive of and wherewithal to know certain things by the culprit may not be entirely clear. Dyer also mentions that the film perhaps doesn't capitalize on perceived regional snobbery that Dyer at least argues is quite prevalent in Italy. Nonetheless, the broad outlines of the plot are more than clear, with a rather pervy architect named Garrone (Claudio Gora) offed within the first few minutes of the film, but only after he has been shown to be a complete reprobate, including stealing a peek up a woman's skirt and overtly commenting about another woman's bosom. The fact that he is bludgeoned to death with a gigantic stone phallus may indicate a certain black humor at work in the film, but, again, Dyer mentions how The Sunday Woman is not exactly "laugh out loud hilarious".

The "whodunit" aspect of the film is arguably offered more directly in the film's cheeky trailer (see below in the extra features section) than it is in the film itself, though there are some of the typical trappings of this genre definitely on hand, including a dogged police commissioner named Salvatore Santamaria (Marcello Mastroianni), who just might be falling for one of the prime suspects, a patrician woman named Anna Carla Dosio (Jacqueline Bisset). Anna isn't particularly troubled to be a suspect in a murder, and in fact may find the situation kind of titillating and a welcome escape from her indolent life of empty pleasures. Also on the suspect list is her friend Massimo Campi (Jean-Louis Trintignant), whose somewhat suspicious behaviors are revealed to be due at least in part to the fact that he's pretty securely closeted, enjoying a romantic relationship with Lello Riviera (Aldo Reggiani) only in secret.

The film coasts by on the considerable charisma of its focal trio, but some may feel as I did that it never quite achieves a consistent level of ebullience it seems to be aiming for. In time honored tradition, the narrative offers a slew of potential suspects, a number of red herrings, and of course a second murder before a somewhat confusing "Moishe the Explainer" vignette ensues. In that regard, while it seems kind of comical at the time, the fact that the first victim is almost inerrantly referred to as "the architect Garrone" (rather than merely by his surname) turns out to be a salient clue, as if Age and Scarpelli took a page out of "The Purloined Letter" and hid the solution to the mystery more or less in plain sight.

The Sunday Woman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Sunday Woman is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in either 1.33:1 or 1.85:1 (see screenshot 20, where I had already clicked on "Play" and brought up the information on the two versions you can read about). Radiance's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer(s):

The Sunday Woman was scanned in 2K from the original camera negative and restored by Studio Cine, Rome. Additional colour grading and correction was performed by Radiance. The film is presented in the original aspect ratio with an optional alternative widescreen viewing option as intended by cinematographer Luciano Tovoli. Both versions are presented with the original mono soundtrack. The audio received additional restoration by Radiance for this release.

As you'll be able to easily see from the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, I've attempted to give you fairly similar shots in both framings so that you can see the differences that are on display. Both framings are certainly perfectly acceptable on their own terms, though my hunch is some may feel things are too tight with regard to items like headroom at times on the 1.85:1 version and probably too spacious at times on the 1.33:1 version, but in terms of actually missing anything important I don't think there's much to worry about in either aspect ratio. Both offer a really nicely sumptuous accounting of the palette, and detail levels are typically excellent throughout. There are some very minor variances in densities and color temperature. Grain resolves naturally throughout both versions.

The Sunday Woman Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Sunday Woman features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track in the original Italian. This is a typical Italian production where as they say sync can be loose, and not just with regard to the more obviously dubbed Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Louis Trintignant, but also with regard to some of the native Italian speakers. That kind of quaint anomaly aside, the track offers a nicely fluid if perhaps just slightly bright (especially in terms of some of the higher register harpsichord) accounting of Ennio Morricone's score, which I think is one of his best from this general period. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Sunday Woman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Richard Dyer on The Sunday Woman (HD; 18:15) is an interesting exploration of the film, mostly with Dyer as a talking head, but with a few snippets from the film. Dyer's analysis of the film's title is a nice touch.


• Luciano Tovoli (HD; 22:11) is an archival interview with the cinematographer, filmed by Federico Caddeo in 2008. Subtitled in English.


• Giacomo Scarpelli on The Sunday Woman (HD; ) is a really sweet reminiscence by co-screenwriter Furio Scarpelli's son. Subtitled in English.


• Jean-Louis Trintignant (HD; 4:28) is an archival snippet culled from the French TV show Allons au Cinema, first broadcast in 1976. Subtitled in English.


• Trailer (HD; 3:38) rather hilariously features a number of characters hoisting that aforementioned murder weapon.

Additionally, Radiance provides another nicely appointed insert booklet with essays by Mariangela Sansone and an archival piece by Gerard Legrand, along with cast and crew information, the transfer verbiage, and stills. The keepcase features a reversible sleeve and Radiance's quasi-Obi strip.

The Sunday Woman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

With a cast like this film has, you could simply plop the stars down and have them stare at each other (which kind of hilariously actually happens a couple of times), and you'd probably end up with more riveting watchability than 90% of cookie cutter films right from the get go. Still, The Sunday Woman may be a bit too discursive in some of its potent subtext(s), and it might have done better to just have gone for the gusto in terms of outright buffoonery. Even if the mystery isn't especially persuasive, the cast is lively and helps to buoy sometimes shaky material. Technical merits are solid, and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.