Ragazze d’oggi (Vater, wir wollen heiraten)

Widower Peppino Bardelotti (Paolo Stoppa) lives in modest circumstances with his four daughters. Three of them, Sofia, Tilde and Anna (Marisa Allasio, Lili Cerasoli, Armenia Balducci) are of marriageable age and are encouraged by their aunt Matilda (Billa Billa) to look for wealthy men. But superficial impressions turn out to be deceptive: Sofia and Tilde seem to have made good matches, but one suitor turns away under pressure from his rich father, while the other wants to turn his fiancée into a prostitute. Zampa's portrait of morality balances sweetly on the fine line between sentiment and comedy, but enchants as a pastel Eastmancolour portrait of Milan in the 1950s. At the time, the city was regarded as the epitome of modernity and progress, and Ragazze d'oggi deals with progressive questions about the possibilities for women's self-realisation without being able to completely break away from the status quo. (Christoph Huber)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum