Sophia Loren Returns...
Tuesday, February 18, 2020 at 1:17PM by Eric Blume
Variety recently announced that Netflix has acquired rights to an Italian remake of the 1977 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film, Madame Rosa. Now titled The Life Ahead, it stars Sophia Loren in the Simone Signoret role, who this time "forges a bond with a 12-year-old Senegalese immigrant boy named Momo."
There's a lot to unpack here. The original Madame Rosa movie is notoriously one of the worst winners of that Oscar category, and for good reason: the movie is sentimental garbage. This French film won over, among others, Luis Bunuel's challenging The Obscure Object of Desire and Ettore Scola's A Special Day, starring Marcello Mastroianni and...Sophia Loren...
This film will mark Loren's first appearance in a movie since her brief role in 2009's musical Nine. Loren, now 85, is of course a legend of the cinema.
Loren seemed born for the cinema. Her mesmerizing beauty and overwhelming sensuality were matched by her intelligence and grace, and when she's onscreen, you're not looking at anything else. She's the definition of special, a true one-of-a-kind actress who made Italian cinema sizzle through the 1950s and 60s.
The Life Ahead (2020)
The Life Ahead is directed by Loren's son, Edoardi Ponto. Will he avoid the sentimentality and obviousness of the 1977 French film? These types of elderly/young bonding movies are pretty tricky to pull off, the artistic height of course being Walter Salles' 1998 film Central Station, with its remarkable Oscar-nominated performance from Fernanda Montenegro, which managed to steer clear of the traps and was breathtaking.
But won't it be great to see Loren onscreen again, in such a big role? Are you excited about her return? What's your favorite Sophia performance?
Reader Comments (21)
I had no idea Madame Rosa had such a bad reputation. I love Signoret and this is one of her few major roles I haven't seen. Still, I'm glad Loren is acting again. Even if it's bad, I miss her unique movie star energy. Nine used her so shabbily.
Madame Rosa was pretty bad but it did give Simone Signoret a meaty part and she was excellent in it.
I haven’t seen the original film, but I’m all for Ms. Loren acting again! I have yet to see her historic, Oscar-winning role, but I love her in Marriage Italian Style (also Oscar nominated).
Happy to see her back. Her screen presence is just electrifying.
My favorite Sophia performance is Sunflower. But also love her in Marriage Italian Style, A Special Day, Arabesque...
Will they push her as Best Actress,we can do with some legends who aren't Meryl in there once in a while.
Sophia Loren can move me to tears. The anguish that she can convey is incredible: Sunflower (my favorite performance of La Loren), Two Women, A Very Special Day and Marriage Italian Style.
In French films, Marion Cotillard has the same effect on me, for the same reasons. In Spain that would be Penélope Cruz.
I've seen the play numerous times due to work and the audience ended up sobbing every single time. It might be sentimental garbage but it works. If Ponti is minimally skilled, expect Loren in many lineups.
P.D. My favourite Loren is Una giornata particolare.
Looking forward to seeing this. Sophia Loren is truly special.
I saw Madame Rosa many years ago and I remember how suprised Simone didn't get nominated for Best Actress. And if it is sentimental garbage then I for one fell for it and enjoyed it.
No matter what one thinks of the film (and you're right, it's such an uncanny win considering the other nominees) Simone Signoret's performance is incredibly powerful and hard to forget. People barely mention her anymore but she was such a unique actress and woman, they should definitely check out her incredibly filmography.
I don't really care for the remake, though.
"it stars Sophia Loren in the Simone Signoret role, now named Madame Rosa," ...What do you mean "now named Madame Rosa"? Madame Rosa is the same name as original.
My favourite performance of hers is in A Special Day, one of the greatest depictions of loneliness in cinema.
Technically, it's her first role in 9 years since she did do voice work in Cars 2 in its Italian version.
Loren is one of the living legends of cinema to see her face on the big screen is mesmerizing and you can understand why she is a movie goddess. Great to see that even at her age she still working
co-sign French Toast - Simone Signoret was a wonderful actress, and she was great in Madame Rosa. There's a reason Sophia Loren wants to play that part, hope she does as well as Signoret.
Btw. Simone Signoret wrote a very unsentimental autobiography - "Nostalgia Isn't What it Used to Be".
I love her incredible duet with Mastroianni in A Special Day, too. So moving!
It's Edoardo Ponti. The name appears incorrectly in the text and in the tags.
I love Sophia Loren and am glad she is back on screen. One of my favorite movies is Yesterday Today and Tomorrow in which she plays three roles.
Two Women, Yesterday Today Tomorrow, Marriage Italian Style, A Special Day and her breakthrough role in The Gold of Naples, a skilled actress and a sensational movie star. On paper a role with more potential than the ones she has played in many many years, the problem is that I don’t trust very much Ponti jr. as director (I remember his Between Strangers mainly for its all-star cast). I agree that Signoret was great as Madame Rosa
Please, write my name right.
So hard words for "Madame Rosa". Why?