When I saw this movie years ago the rape scene seemed much more violent and prolonged compared to when I saw it on TCM recently. I guess the ensuing years with all the violence and sex on the screen, and in real-life- have numbed me to what in the past seemed shocking. Too bad. Hud
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Although I do understand where you're coming it is ironic that you should say this.
I have seen rape scenes much worse than in Two Women, nonetheless I found the scene very well done and brutally tragic. It's not graphic, but seeing the results- Rosetta's shock and the mother's tears more than revealed to the suffering of both women as a result of the rape.
Yes I have to agree with Forlorn_rage about the result of the rape. you could feel the mother's & Rosetta's pain so much, Which I think has a more powerful effect on an audience then actually seeing a long brutal rape scene.
shareIt's the emotional impact that makes it linger in the mind as particularly brutal--not the actual stuff shown on the screen.
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I think it is partly, as people have said here, the emotional violence, that makes it so powerful, but I agree also with Hud, that we have become numbed to some extent by so much graphic sexual violence in films.
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Initiaslly, I found it very frightening and, in the aftermath, incredibly heart-breaking.
shareI thought the scene was very well done.
shareI too thought the scene was well- done all the way around....while I think I understand where the OP is coming from as far as the violence that has become the norm since first seeing Two Women, what I found particularly interesting was the honesty with which the physical aspects and damage of the rape were hinted at, (and not only the emotional wreckage of rape)...I noticed movements by each of the actresses towards the pubic region (of the daughter especially), like, for example, Sophia Loren's character wanted to look at it (in the normal way a parent would look at any injury incurred by their child), but she stops herself. The movements are very subtle, easy to miss. The daughter also seemed to favor that area(in addition to her knees being weak when she first stands)...maybe I was imagining it, and it May be stating the obviousthat rape hurts physically, but I don't ever remember any movies from that long ago actually acknowledging the AREA of a person that was raped. I shouldn't be surprised, as European films always tended to be more honest in these regards, but it was still unexpected, and impressed me with the acting and directing of Two Women.
"Shake the hand that shook the hand
Of P. T. Barnum....and Charlie Chan!"
The rape scene may not have been violent in terms of visuals, but it did strike an emotionally devastating chord for audiences. The callousness shown by the rapists and the harrowing sense of vulnerability within Cesira and her daughter was disturbing to witness.
I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.
Untold number of women who endured rape at the end of the war could feel this movie personally. It was a story that had to be told, for the sake of the silent, grieving women.
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