Sica, Vittorio De, Bolkan, Florinda, Gimpera, Teresa, Prada, José María, Quenaud, Daniel, Salvatori, Renato	...	(Director)
Rodolfo Sonego, Cesare Zavattini	...	(Writer)
Florinda Bolkan	...	Clara Mataro
Renato Salvatori	...	Franco Mataro, the husband
Daniel Quenaud	...	Luigi, Clara's lover
José María Prada	...	Dr. Ciranni
Teresa Gimpera	...	Gina
Hugo Blanco	...	Brother-in-law
Julia Peña	...	Edvige
Miranda Campa	...	Nurse Guidotti
Angela Cardile	...	La Rossa, the redhead
Anna Carena	...	Mother-in-law
Monica Guerritore	...	Maria
Maria Mizar	...	Nurse Garin
Alessandro Romanazzi	...	Son
Adriana Asti	...	Scanziani
Enrico Baroni	...

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Comments: DIT 133

Summary: For anyone who's ever yearned for respite from a life of loveless drudgery--or just a break from the daily routine--A Brief Vacation offers a breath of fresh air. Having enjoyed latter-day success with frothy comedies and prestigious acclaim for The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Vittorio De Sica returned to his neorealist roots (at least partially) with this engaging study of Clara (Florinda Bolkan), an exhausted factory worker in Milan, unappreciated by her demanding family and suffering from the onset of tuberculosis. She's sent to a sanitorium in the Italian Alps for rest and treatment, where she's befriended by wealthy and working-class patients alike, and falls in love with a charming Frenchman (Daniel Quenaud) who promises everything she's denied by her selfish, jealous husband. "It's swoony romanticism from then on," wrote critic Pauline Kael, but A Brief Vacation--and especially Bolkan's marvelous performance, alternately weary and radiant--avoids blatant sentiment, favoring instead the richly emotional study of a woman who has earned the right to elusive happiness. In his final collaboration with the great Italian screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, De Sica harkens back to the heartbreaking truthfulness of Umberto D., while suggesting just enough hope for a better life ahead. --Jeff Shannon