Antonioni’s fourth feature, LE AMICHE (“The Girlfriends”) corrals five well-to-do young women in Turin, in the center is Clelia (Rossi Drago), who returns from Rome to her hometown to open a fashion salon branch, strikes up friendship with Momina (Furneaux), a divorced socialite, albeit they first meet under the misfortunate occurrence of a suicide attempt fro Momina’s friend Rosetta (Fischer), anyway, the latter survives, and it turns out, she is infatuated with a painter named Lorenzo (Ferzetti), whose companion is their common friend Nene (Cortese), a talented sculptress, also in the fold is the flirtatious Mariella (Pancani).

Rosetta’s defeatist dysphoria does not bid well for her declaration of love to Lorenzo, but it is Nene’s philosophical consideration is more empathetic and precious for a woman doesn’t luxuriate in spite or vengeance for losing her man to her friend, only that judicious impression is smashed to smithereens in the next chapter, when Lorenzo, in the wake of a tragedy he should at least partially answer for, begs for forgiveness, Nene relents and takes this feckless man back, even if it means she has to sacrifice her budding career to allay a man’s bruised ego, a backward-looking woman who prioritizes her man over everything else, surely will do that, and be capable of sweeping his demerits under the rug, but through Cortese’s pathos-driven affection and resignation, Nene comes off more than that, she is a composite of contradictions, that is quite a defining character to pin down, in both men and women alike. Ferzetti’s Lorenzo, on the other hand, is a ball of frustration, anxiety and ill temper, it is not at all palatable to see him get away with his self-involved narcissism.

Momina is completely a different kettle of fish, who does not decline frolics from Cesare (Fabrizi), an acquaintance she befriends through Clelia, yet, if her ex-husband beckons, she is smart enough not to be tied up to one tree only, and her cynical attitude also rubs off on a susceptible Rosetta, Antonioni doesn’t shy away from the discordance among female friends, only, it is always man-oriented, that certainly betrays and is pertinent to the story’s ‘50s temporality, but a bit of foresight might leaven the magic here.

As for a fancy-free Clelia, fetchingly played by a self-possessed Drago reminiscent of Ingrid Bergman’s high-toned elegance, inexorably she falls under the spell of a handsome Carlo (Manni), whose working-class backdrop differs from hers, and tentatively, she tries to sort out her feelings and propose a future with him, but being a career woman who tries not to be defined by marriage, or the man she marries, she thinks better of it when a new occupational perspective opens up, Antonioni might not above to break the class barrier, but highlighting Clelia as the opposite of both Rosetta and Nene in terms of their attitude towards the stronger sex, shows that the progress has taken its pace.

While the interpersonal drama and narrative-heavy structure is not Antonioni’s forte, his keen sense of fashion, natural landscape (a beach side outing shows up the cracks of their little clique) and patient observation and compositional fluidity of his camerawork can all be espied in this neorealism lodestone that luminously throws light on the changing mores of womanhood.

referential entries: Antonioni’s STORY OF A LOVE AFFAIR (1950, 6.0/10), IL GRIDO (1957, 7.2/10); Federico Fellini’s THE WHITE SHEIK (1952, 7.5/10).