Time of Indifference [1964] [DVD]

Impeccably styled and shot, Francesco Maselli's hyper-elegant 1920s drama rivals Bertolucci's 'The Conformist' and Godard's 'Contempt' as the best-ever film of an Alberto Moravia novel. All the acting is first-rate: Paulette Goddard as a faded grande dame, Claudia Cardinale and Tomas Milian as her wayward offspring, Shelley Winters as her scheming 'best friend' and Rod Steiger as the coarse and ruthless businessman who holds them all in his power.

The evocation of the period is almost eerie in its perfection. Did Marcel Escoffier and Luigi Scaccianoce really design those luscious costumes and sets, or did they wander into a haunted house where ghosts live that way? ~ imdb