Lady Caliph

Lady Caliph (Italian: La califfa) is a 1970 Italian-French drama film written and directed by Alberto Bevilacqua. It was entered into the 1971 Cannes Film Festival.^[1]

Lady Caliph
Directed by	Alberto Bevilacqua
Written by	Alberto Bevilacqua
Produced by	Mario Cecchi Gori
Starring	Ugo Tognazzi Romy Schneider
Cinematography	Roberto Gerardi
Edited by	Sergio Montanari
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Release date	1970 (1970)
Running time	112 minutes
Countries	Italy France
Language	Italian

Plot

In the Emilia province of Italy, out of solidarity with the workers fired from another failed company, the workers occupy the factory of self-made industrialist Annibale Doberdò. In dealing with the situation, he starts negotiations. An employee, the beautiful and fiery Irene, nicknamed Califfa, whose worker-husband was killed during a demonstration, meets with Doberdò. He wants to induce the strikers back to work and they show uncertainty between the directives of their union and the incitements to violence by extremists. Irene becomes Doberdò's lover and asks the workers to listen to the industrialist's proposals for renewal of working terms and worker participation in the factory management. The riots, however, continue. The industrialist's stance is badly received by other employers. While he returns from yet another meeting with his lover, Doberdò is killed by assassins.^[2]

Cast

• Ugo Tognazzi - Annibale Doberdò, industrialist
• Romy Schneider - Irene "La Califfa" Corsini, worker
• Massimo Farinelli - Giampiero Doberdò, son of Annibale
• Marina Berti - Clementine Doberdò, wife of Annibale
• Guido Alberti - Catholic priest
• Roberto Bisacco - Bisacco
• Gigi Ballista - major industrialist
• Massimo Serato - failed industrialist
• Eva Brun - wife of failed industrialist
• Luigi Casellato - police commissioner
• Gigi Reder - servant
• Ernesto Colli - worker
• Enzo Fiermonte - union activist

Music

The film's music was composed by Ennio Morricone.