What Should Mother Do?

Light in the Piazza (M-G-M), developed from a popular novella by Elizabeth Spencer, is an intelligent and charming "woman's picture" that tells the story of a rich American couple (Olivia de Havilland and Barry Sullivan) with an emotionally harrowing problem: they have a mentally defective daughter (Yvette Mimieux). Kicked by a pony in childhood, the girl has the mind of a ten-year-old girl in the body of a startlingly beautiful young woman. In fact, the girl's sensuous attractions are so spectacular that most young men thoughtlessly fail to notice her mental limitations.

As the story begins, mother and daughter are having a holiday in Florence, the

Florence of full summer, blue sky and golden stones, with the lazy Arno flowing under and Brunelleschi's grand dome floating over all. A darkly handsome young Italian (George Hamilton) of good family falls suddenly, Mediterribly in love with the blonde beauty, and the girl falls instantly, Americandidly in love with him. What should the mother do? On the one hand, she longs to see her daughter married; on the other, she fears with good reason that the mental demands of marriage would be too much for her. Still, the girl is quite healthy in her feelings: innocent, loving, obedient. She would make a good mother, an excellent physical partner. In the end, the mother overcomes her doubts and even her scruples--she decides not only to permit the marriage but also to conceal the girl's condition from the boy and his family.

The girl's chances for happiness in her unequal partnership are pitifully slim. But Director Guy (The Mark} Green--with the help of Scriptwriter Julius (Tender Trap) Epstein, who at a dozen points has strengthened the motivation of the characters and the plausibility of the plot--plays so skillfully on the spectator's sentiments that even strong men may find themselves sniffling with joy at the poor kid's wedding. Green's management of the actors is also superb; every member of the cast performs at the top of his talent, and the 19-year-old girl who plays the defective will inevitably be nominated for an Academy Award. Mimieux mimes with subtlety and restraint; she simply behaves like any other well-developed, not-very-bright girl in her late teens, except for an ever-so-slight blankness in the eyes. When the spectator is suddenly shown this flawed creature splashing and giggling in the bathtub with a cute little plastic duck, a shudder goes through him--a woman's body without a woman in it is an eerie and disturbing thing to see.

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