Main Cast: Sophia Loren, Paul Newman, David Niven, Claude Dauphin, Philippe Noiret
Release Year: 1965
Country: US/UK/IT/FR
Run Time: 107 minutes
Plot
Lady L (Sophia Loren) is an 80-year-old woman who recalls her amorous adventures in flashback in this light sex comedy. While working as a laundress, Lady L falls for the gambler and anarchist Armand (Paul Newman), who gets mixed up with an inept group trying to assassinate the senile Prince Otto (Peter Ustinov). She ends up marrying the suave aristocrat Dicky (David Niven) in this entertaining but uneven feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Review
Lady L wants to be an anarchical comedy, a satire that lobs bombs at all sorts of conventions and classes -- but unfortunately, director/writer Peter Ustinov forgot to light the fuse. The film starts out well (once one gets past Sophia Loren's inability to pass as an 80-year-old woman), but it never delivers on its early promise, and it never seems to settle on what it wants to say or what its targets will be. It does have a twisted sense of humor which pokes its head through every so often, but the pacing is too deliberate and the atmosphere too strained for much of the humor to land. Once she gets to play a younger woman, Loren is fine, although her attempts at portraying a woman born to the breed are not always successful. David Niven, of course, has no trouble exuding the airs of the upper class, but he doesn't seem as firmly in command of his character as is his usual wont. More problematic is Paul Newman, whose performance is curiously lifeless. There are some attractive costumes and lovely scenery, but they actually end up working against Lady L, making it seem like a conventional film when it cries out for a more outrageous and adventurous treatment. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Margot Capelier - Casting, Marcel Escoffier - Costume Designer, Jacqueline Guot - Costume Designer, Lucie Lichtig - Continuity, Paul Feyder - First Assistant Director, Peter Ustinov - Director, Roger Dwyre - Editor, Jean Francaix - Composer (Music Score), Michel Deruelle - Makeup, William J. Tuttle - Makeup, Giuseppe Annunziata - Makeup, Auguste Capelier - Production Designer, Jean D'Eaubonne - Production Designer, Henri Alékan - Cinematographer, Carlo Ponti - Producer, Maurice Barnathan - Set Designer, Karl Baumgartner - Special Effects, William Robert Sivel - Sound/Sound Designer, Peter Ustinov - Screenwriter, Romain Gary - Book Author
