Maria Carmi in Forse che sí, forse che no (1920)
Vintage Italian postcard. Maria Carmi as Isabella Inghirami in the Italian silent drama Forse che sí, forse che no (Gaston Ravel, Medusa Film 1921), based on Gabriele d'Annunzio's eponymous novel (1910). Distributed by Unione Cinematografica Italiana. Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, Fotominio. Caption: Isabella durante la sua pazzia (Isabella during her madness). The man on the right could be Giorgio Fini, who plays Isabella's brother Aldo, who is in love with his own sister, and here tries to steal her engagement ring. NB. In 1916 the play had already been adapted to film by Mario Gargiulo, with Tina Xeo in the lead.
Plot: D'Annunzio's novel is set in Mantua, in Palazzo Gonzaga, whose inscription "perhaps that yes, perhaps that no" inspired the title. The protagonist is the noble Paolo Tarsis (Ettore Piergiovanni) who lives a loving relationship of passion with Isabella (Maria Carmi). Unlike the other D'Annunzio supermen, he understands the change of time, and instead of taking refuge in the current of decadence, he rides the new fashion of cars, automobiles and airplanes, partly embracing the current of futurism. However, happiness does not last, because Isabella secretly betrays him with her brother Aldo (Giorgio Fini), reproaching Paolo for his betrayals with Vanna (Eugenia Masetti), Isabella's younger sister, who is madly in love with Paolo. When the knots come to a head, Vanna goes to Paolo to reveal the relationship between her brother and her older sister. Paolo, furious, awaits the arrival of Isabella on which he unleashes his anger, beating and insulting her. Vanna commits suicide out of desperation. Isabella, before so self-assured and determined, has become so maddened that her father and stepmother lock her up in an institution. Paolo, unable to help her, also attempts a suicide with a desperate action, to arrive with his plane in Sardinia and return to Italy. The enterprise succeeds, and Paolo is hailed as a hero.
Parts of the novel - such as in the incestuous relationship between sister and brother - would be used by Luchino Visconti for his film Vaghe stelle dell'orsa/Sandra (1965), starring Claudia Cardinale and Jean Sorel.
The film Forse che sí, forse che no had its premiere in Rome on 2 December 1921. The film wasn't liked by the Italian press (some thought it too decadent, others too sweet and unfaithful to D'Annunzio) nor by the Italian audience. The censor's suppressing of intertitles at the epilogue surely didn't help the understanding of the film.
With her aristocratic air, her severe looks but also her sweet undertones, Italian silent film star and stage actress Maria Carmi (1880-1957) was the cinematic translation of the 19th century Primadonna in Italian and German silent films of the 1910s and early 1920s. She also had an international stage hit with the play The Miracle/ Das Mirakel.
Maria Carmi in Forse che sí, forse che no (1920)
Vintage Italian postcard. Maria Carmi as Isabella Inghirami in the Italian silent drama Forse che sí, forse che no (Gaston Ravel, Medusa Film 1921), based on Gabriele d'Annunzio's eponymous novel (1910). Distributed by Unione Cinematografica Italiana. Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, Fotominio. Caption: Isabella durante la sua pazzia (Isabella during her madness). The man on the right could be Giorgio Fini, who plays Isabella's brother Aldo, who is in love with his own sister, and here tries to steal her engagement ring. NB. In 1916 the play had already been adapted to film by Mario Gargiulo, with Tina Xeo in the lead.
Plot: D'Annunzio's novel is set in Mantua, in Palazzo Gonzaga, whose inscription "perhaps that yes, perhaps that no" inspired the title. The protagonist is the noble Paolo Tarsis (Ettore Piergiovanni) who lives a loving relationship of passion with Isabella (Maria Carmi). Unlike the other D'Annunzio supermen, he understands the change of time, and instead of taking refuge in the current of decadence, he rides the new fashion of cars, automobiles and airplanes, partly embracing the current of futurism. However, happiness does not last, because Isabella secretly betrays him with her brother Aldo (Giorgio Fini), reproaching Paolo for his betrayals with Vanna (Eugenia Masetti), Isabella's younger sister, who is madly in love with Paolo. When the knots come to a head, Vanna goes to Paolo to reveal the relationship between her brother and her older sister. Paolo, furious, awaits the arrival of Isabella on which he unleashes his anger, beating and insulting her. Vanna commits suicide out of desperation. Isabella, before so self-assured and determined, has become so maddened that her father and stepmother lock her up in an institution. Paolo, unable to help her, also attempts a suicide with a desperate action, to arrive with his plane in Sardinia and return to Italy. The enterprise succeeds, and Paolo is hailed as a hero.
Parts of the novel - such as in the incestuous relationship between sister and brother - would be used by Luchino Visconti for his film Vaghe stelle dell'orsa/Sandra (1965), starring Claudia Cardinale and Jean Sorel.
The film Forse che sí, forse che no had its premiere in Rome on 2 December 1921. The film wasn't liked by the Italian press (some thought it too decadent, others too sweet and unfaithful to D'Annunzio) nor by the Italian audience. The censor's suppressing of intertitles at the epilogue surely didn't help the understanding of the film.
With her aristocratic air, her severe looks but also her sweet undertones, Italian silent film star and stage actress Maria Carmi (1880-1957) was the cinematic translation of the 19th century Primadonna in Italian and German silent films of the 1910s and early 1920s. She also had an international stage hit with the play The Miracle/ Das Mirakel.