Woman Times Seven (1967)
Woman Times Seven (1967), directed by Vittorio De Sica.
A Shirley MacLaine showcase: she stars in seven short tales of love, marriage and infidelity. It reminds me of the old Love, American Style TV anthology series, but was filmed in Paris and is more memorable. I remember the TV show as being pretty low-end.
Mostly comic treatments, it's worth it if you like MacLaine and the supporting players. She plays a variety of parts and shows her talents. You get to see a lot of Paris 1967 in this sort of quirky little film.
The episodes:
Family doctor Peter Sellers propositions her at her husband's funeral.
Finding husband Rossano Brazzi and her best friend in bed, she runs out vowing to have sex with the first man she meets. Friendly prostitutes give her a hand, getting a little revenge on the male race.
A translator torments her diplomatic suitors by reading poetry in the nude. (Note: the whole film is very PG).
She begins acting bizarrely to get the attention of her artist husband who cares only for the fantasy women he draws.
She has a titanic fight over who gets to wear the designer dress to the opera. (We get to see the Chagall ceiling at the Paris Opera, pretty new then. I know about it only because it was mentioned in Final Portrait (2017) which I saw at the same time).
She and Alan Arkin are angry suicides.
Followed by scruffy Michael Caine through the snowy streets, she is strangely pleased.
Available on DVD.
