As with any Visconti film, it is a beautifully crafted picture.
Mastroianni is suprisingly comfortable and convincing in the shadow of the main love interest. His childishly guilty demeanor after tearing apart a letter that he was supposed to deliver was strangely endearing.
Visconti remains faithful to his radical principles and elects to show the grittiness and deprivation that characterizes the working-class setting in which the story unfolds.
