I enjoyed this upon its initial release but then heard no more of it until the recent Blu-ray release. It was poorly received at the time but I saw in the context of the films of Antonioni and Bunuel whose films I was discovering at the time. Indeed there is something of an Antonioni feel to this with a misty and mysterious Venice adding to the seeming strangeness of the allure of Jeanne Moreau's character particularly with the, admittedly dressed down, Virni Lisi and her more obvious beauty. But this is not a tale of an enigmatic and vulnerable woman a little out of reach, for this is from a book by the British writer of the rough, tough and sexy, James Hadley Chase. Much maligned by critics at the time he had considerable popular success and told of his inspiration to write coming from the equally uncompromising, James M Caine. So, no this does not have the ambiguity and dreamlike romanticism that a film by the great Italian director might. If anything this might be closer to the work of Bunuel, shot through with obsession, a casting aside of bourgeoise morality and more than a hint of masochism. Stanley Baker who had been fantastic in the marvellous The Criminal (1960) also with Losey is also good here but perhaps made to look a little second best now and again by Moreau on absolute peak form in a devastating and uncompromising role. She had made the ever popular Jules and Jim at the same time but there is no hint of the happy go lucky flirt here. Set in Rome and Venice it is the Venetian scenes that set the tone and contribute to the sense of doom that permeates much of the film. Glorious but worrying scenes of half glimpsed boats and masts and barely populated islets plus an empty St Mark's Square in the early hours, mist enclosing its exits and entrances. Losey apparently had much trouble getting, what he describes as a most personal work to the screen but it is a brilliant work and a prime example of just how great British cinema briefly became during the 1960s.
Review of Eva
