A Scandalous Journey

I saw this film last night. The scene's involving Sibilla Alaramo's youth were the best: her mother's madness and the brutal rape she was forced to endure at the hands of her future husband. Sibilla was, in Italy, a controversial novelist who challenged the paternalism of her day. That she had sexual relations with men other than her husband is something that Dino Campana cannot really forgive her for. His madness, though real, comes across as a bit self-indulgent. She seems the stronger, more depthful person: in love with a talented madman; having to survive as an independent women when this idea was frowned upon (it still is, to some extent).