Eva (1962)
1h 40m | PG-13
Best-selling author Tyvian Jones has a life of leisure in Venice, Italy, until he has a chance encounter with sultry Frenchwoman Eva Olivier. He falls for her instantly, despite already having wedding plans with Francesca Ferrara. Winning Eva's affection proves elusive; she's more interested in money than in love. But Tyvian remain steadfast in his obsession, going after Eva with a fervor that threatens to destroy his life.
Director: Joseph Losey
Studio: Paris-Film Production
Genre: Drama
Video: 720p
Cast
Jeanne Moreau
as Eva Olivier
Stanley Baker
as Tyvian Jones
Giorgio Albertazzi
as Sergio Branco Malloni - a Movie Director (uncredited)
James Villiers
as Alan McCormick - a Screenwriter
Virna Lisi
as Francesca Ferrara
Riccardo Garrone
as Michele - a Player
Reviews
Stanley Baker ("Tyvian") is a rough man from the Welsh mining school of hard knocks who has written an internationally recognised bestseller. When he finds himself in Venice, not only is he, culturally, a fish out of water but also finds himself the target of a mysterious and manipulative Jeanne Moreau ("Eve") who quickly ensnares him in a web of charm and seduction rendering him impotent to her toxic power over him. It's beautifully shot on location but otherwise I found it all a little pretentious. Both principal characters polarise and epitomise the worst in each other - and of society in general. His poor, downtrodden fiancée "Francesca" (Virna Lisi) is probably the only person in the film with whom you could possibly empathise; and frankly I think she would be far better advised to leave them both to it and explore the Murano glassworks instead. It is quite an interesting historical retrospective of life in Venice in the early 1960s, but otherwise I think Joseph Losey has rather over-indulged himself.