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Excellent but underrated film

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

La "Donna della domenica" is definitely one of my favorite books and a great movie. Despite being built on a murder story, this movie is not a thriller. In fact, it is rather a comedy on the Torinese society, spanning from wanna-be-intellectuals to the rich and the beautiful, from rustic land owners to simple immigrants. And as a comedy, it is an exceptional one!If you are looking for suspense or you are not familiar with Italian society, you should stay away from it. Also, I recommend that you need to understand Italian very well to appreciate this movie: I checked a bit the German version/subtitles, but at least 50% of the humor gets lost in the translation...

The story is taken from the Fruttero & Lucentini's book of the same title. Mysterious murders take place in Turin, Italy; victims are always people from the upper class. The movie is not a masterpiece. The solution of the cases is not well explained, the director goes too fast in showing us who the guilty is. The movie lacks some dramatical moments. Nevertheless, "La donna della domenica" is still an enjoyable movie. First, the cast is excellent: Marcello Mastroianni is very charming in the role of the elegant policeman Santamaria; Jacqueline Bisset too is delightful in the part of the snobbish lady; also Jean-Louis Trintignant works very well. Other Italian actors (with a long experience in the theatre and at the movies) complete the cast, for example Claudio Gora and Lina Volonghi. Luigi Comencini, one the inventors of the Italian comedy, directs this 1975 thriller with a lot of humor. And, as usual, the music of Ennio Morricone is fantastic (actually that's one of the highlights of the film).

"La donna della domenica" is an outstanding film, but one that is unlikely to be fully appreciated by non-Italians, most of whom might see it as a whodunnit of sorts. Its strength lies, instead, not just with its excellent cast, but also with the caustic way in which it describes Turin's high society: full of characters that, behind their apparent stylishness and elegance, betray a penchant for hypocrisy and an inability to look further than the conventional way in which they live.It looks more like a comedy, and a well-written, witty one at that.

Books are usually better than movies from books, one may say it's a universal truth. And Fruttero&Lucentini's novel is better indeed in this case, read it for proof. But - surprise, surprise! - no bad movie at all: a bunch of excellent actors and actresses, all at ease in their roles (especially Mrs. Lina Volonghi, a great actress whose kind Italy should regret) and the feeling they are all having fun while acting (see the hilarious scene with Mastroianni among a group of prostitutes in the police station). Just good for one of those boring Sunday afternoons in winter.