The plot

Roberta Sauerman, a widow in her forties, returns to Trieste, after having been absent from this town for seven years, with all the lack of confidence and the uncertainty of a declining woman. This confined provincial town will become the narrow limits of her life, with a few friends, like the Waldner family. Mr. Waldner, an honorary Consul, is a quiet and lonely man. Anita, his wife, is a dictatorial mother ; Lorenzo, eighteen years old son, is a sickly and emotive young man. A one-day love affair with Roberta raises in him impossible dreams. Roberta realizes that the young man in very immature and she avoids him, hanging on to her past : a wealthy engineer from Milan who is courting her and wants to marry her ; a return of her passion for Vallauri, a nautical engineer overwhelmed with heavy work responsibilities and stuck on his work site by endless strikes. Roberta is forced again into the daily routine of a bourgeoisie’s life; she tries to escape from it with Lorenzo, searching for the lost youth. Lorenzo now scrutinizes his family’s situation with a new and merciless look. In his social class, the only person who is likely to help him is an antique dealer with a questionable morality : Crusich. During the farewell party given by the Consul, all these events come to an end : Roberta, spurned by Lorenzo, finds herself alone again. Villauri kills himself. Anita, Lorenzo’s mother, morbidly attached to him, remains alone : Lorenzo has decided to leave his environment and his town, accompanied by Crusich. But this cannot be the right solution for him : on the highway, the young man leaves the antiques dealer and decide to face life all alone and by himself.

STATE OF SIEGE

(Market title : A Brief Love)

Produced by CINEGAY - 1969

World Premiere at the VENICE FILM FESTIVAL- The New Italian Cinema

Directed by Romano Scavolini.

Written by Gianfranco Calligarich.

Director of Photography : Mario Carbone

Starring: Joan Collins, Mathieu Carriere, Antonio Centa, Faith Domergue, Frank Wolff, Massimo Serato.

Music by Robby Poitevin