A Woman At Her Window

Greece 1936. In the run up to General Metaxas coup d’etat and fascist dictatorship, Margot Santorini (Romy Schneider), the wife of the Italian ambassador, catches sight of a man fleeing the police from her hotel window. A communist on the run from the police, she decides to hide him; a decision which will stir the aristocrat from her conservative existence and awaken a dormant political and romantic consciousness. Pierre Granier-Deferre’s lavish film is a treat for the eyes. Opening in an ancient Greek amphitheatre with breathtaking views, the director imposes strong colours throughout the film to capture the striking vistas of 30s Greece.

Against this backdrop, the divine Romy Schneider is filmed in all her magisterial beauty, playing the role of the forlorn aristocrat as if it had been written exclusively for her. She is complimented by impressive performances from Umberto Orsini as her husband Rico Santorini, a somewhat cold Lothario yet generous and caring, and Gastone Moschin as the passionate communist resistant, Boutros. However, the ever brilliant Philippe Noiret arguably steals the show as the yearning and genial industrialist Raoul Malfosse.