Light in the Piazza

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Light in the Piazza

Released Jan 31, 1962

1h 41m

Drama

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3 Reviews

78%

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500+ Ratings

Meg Johnson (Olivia de Havilland) is very protective of her daughter, Clara (Yvette Mimieux), a gorgeous young woman who suffers from a mental disability. While on vacation in Italy, Clara meets the dashing Fabrizio Naccarelli (George Hamilton), who is immediately smitten with her and doesn't initially grasp the extent of her developmental handicap. Though Meg is wary of letting Clara fall into a romance with Fabrizio, she realizes that he may be able to give the girl a better life.

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Janet Graves

Photoplay

Delicate handling and the mellow settings of Florence give this unusual story an air of tender romance you'd hardly expect from the subject.

Nov 18, 2020

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Isabel Quigly

The Spectator

I must confess to an almost insuperable pre- judice after seeing the film's trailer and realising that a gay, romantic story with a happy ending had been made out of a situation as ghoulish as this one seemed to be.

Nov 5, 2019

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Clyde Gilmour

Maclean's Magazine

Soap-operatic in theme but elegant in style...

Nov 5, 2019

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Audience Member

Set in the beautiful, enchanting city of Florence, Italy, a mother tries to cope with her child like grown daughter and the Italian man who falls for her daughter. Olivia de Havilland and Yvette Mimieux are splendid in this film. But George Hamilton is completely wrong as the young Italian man who falls for the simple daughter.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

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Audience Member

Great movie. In the end I wondered if Fabrizio had something similarly wrong with him like Cara does. His father tells him not to tell her he is really 23 and his father did all the arranging of the marriage and he acts childish too, even eating the flower in the final scene. In the end, the mother never did tell the Naccarelli's something is wrong with Clara and she made a great decision.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/02/23

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Audience Member

This is a feel-good movie. A delightful way to spend a couple of hours.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

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Audience Member

Unusual soaper about mother, de Havilland, trying to marry off her beautiful brain damaged daughter, Yvette Mimieux. There's gorgeous photography and Olivia de Havilland is good, giving an honest performance in what could easily have been a very silly so-bad-it's-good kind of film.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

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Frances H

Wonderfully warm human drama from a marvelous book with a luminous performance by Yvette Mimieux,

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

12/19/12

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Audience Member

Clara(Yvette Mimieux) is mildly Mentally Challenged, exceptionally Beautiful,& becoming Highly Sexually Aware as she becomes a handful on a European Vacay with her Wealthy Mother(Olivia de Havilland).Clara is extremely popular with the European Men, & she finds the attention New & Exciting, but ohhhhh, what a challenge that turns out to be for her Prissy Momma.A Very Stunning Film

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

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Guy Green

Director

Olivia de Havilland

Meg Johnson

Rossano Brazzi

Signor Naccarelli

Yvette Mimieux

Clara Johnson

George Hamilton

Fabrizio Naccarelli

Barry Sullivan

Noel Johnson

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Synopsis

Meg Johnson (Olivia de Havilland) is very protective of her daughter, Clara (Yvette Mimieux), a gorgeous young woman who suffers from a mental disability. While on vacation in Italy, Clara meets the dashing Fabrizio Naccarelli (George Hamilton), who is immediately smitten with her and doesn't initially grasp the extent of her developmental handicap. Though Meg is wary of letting Clara fall into a romance with Fabrizio, she realizes that he may be able to give the girl a better life.

Director: Guy Green
Producer: Arthur Freed
Screenwriter: Julius J. Epstein
Production Co: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 31, 1962, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 1, 2012
Runtime: 1h 41m

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