by Linda Kay

English Title: I See Naked

Directed by: Dino Risi

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: A collection of seven entertaining stories focusing on sex, love and titillation, each focused on different characters all played by Nino Manfredi.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): The third story is titled Ornella and finds Manfredi as a postal worker named Ercole who eschews female advances. When he gets home he meets a woman on the stairs who asks if he’s living with someone because she thinks she has seen a woman in his apartment. Once inside his flat, he calls for someone named Fabiola and we believe at first the woman’s suspicions were correct. However we soon realize that Ercole is living a secret life as a woman named Ornella. Not only that but Fabiola is the most adorable tabby and white cat wearing a red ribbon!

Ornella has made the acquaintance of a man named Carlos through a magazine letters column. She sits down and reads a letter from Carlos with Fabiola.

Dinner is then prepared by Ornella for herself and the cat, who starts to come down from the top of the piano to partake in some rather lumpy looking milk.

The status quo is threatened when Carlos announces he is coming for a visit. Not knowing what else to do, Ercole meets Carlos at the airport and introduces himself as Ornella’s brother, using the excuse that Ornella had to go out of town to be with their dying aunt. After dropping Carlos off at a lodging house, Ercole returns home and as Ornella tries to figure out how to break it off with Carlos before her secret can be discovered. Fabiola sits beside her.

Carlos is surprised when he drops by Ornella’s apartment and finds Ercole there but Ercole quickly explains he is simply caring for the place and the cat. The two end up spending time together and find they enjoy each others’ company. They even enjoy a song together as Fabiola listens.

Fabiola is seen one more time as the two settle down for the night after Ercole invites Carlos to stay there. This segment could have been presented in a very broad, caricaturish way but actually comes across as a sweet little story with surprisingly realistic characters.

Kitty Cameos: In the segment The Last Virgin, a young woman named Manuella (Véronique Vendell) nervously returns home at night while a reported sex maniac is on the loose. As she climbs the stairs to her apartment she is startled by a brown tabby cat who somehow rolls down the steps while inside a trash pail. The confused cat pauses on the stairway looking at the can with confusion.

Finally in the last segment, I See Naked, a man is plagued with an affliction of seeing nude people all around him. As a doctor tests him with a photograph of a house with several odd things around it, including a black cat and a nude woman, the man can only see the nude woman at first but after being cured can see everything but the nude.

Final Mewsings: People should take a lesson from cats and learn to love unconditionally.

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