Summaries

Synopsis

Aldo (Steve Cochran) has worked at the sugar refinery in Goriano for seven years. His long-time mistress, Irma (Alida Valli), learns that her husband, who left for Australia years ago in search of a job, recently died there. Irma goes to the sugar refinery and drops off Aldo's lunch, but does not stay to talk with him. Concerned about her behavior, Aldo goes back to the house where they discuss her husband's death. Aldo suggests that after seven years they can finally get married and legitimize their daughter, Rosina (Mirna Girardi). The next day, Irma reveals that she loves someone else. Aldo can hardly believe her words, saying, "All these years, nothing was true." In the coming days he tries desperately to change her mind but it is no use, and the relationship ends with him slapping her in public.

Distraught and disillusioned, Aldo leaves Goriano with their daughter Rosina and the two start wandering throughout the Po valley. They stop at the house of his former girlfriend, Elvia (Betsy Blair), a forlorn seamstress who still loves him. He flatters her and helps repair a racing boat owned by the boyfriend of Elvia's younger sister, Edera (Gabriella Pallotta). Later he spends time with Elvia and his daughter watching the river race, with Elvia holding Aldo's arm, but Aldo cannot hide his depression for long. Irma shows up at Elvia's house to deliver Aldo's valise. Elvia has little sympathy for Irma, believing she will regret throwing away her relationship with Aldo. That night Elvia and Aldo go to a dance and have a good time, but Elvia asks to leave early so she can talk with him. Upset that Aldo returned to her only after Irma broke off their relationship, she tells him she received his valise from Irma (but not mentioning Irma's visit). After Aldo explodes in anger at Irma's actions, they both realize his visit was a mistake. Later that evening, Edera returns from the dance a little drunk and flirtatious, and they kiss, but Aldo can only think about Irma. Aldo and his daughter leave early the next morning. Elvia tells her younger sister she is sad to see him go.

Aldo is unsuccessful in finding work along the Po valley. When Rosina is almost hit by a car, Aldo slaps her face in front of a school yard of children, humiliating her. She runs off and walks among a group of men from the insane asylum. Her father retrieves her and they get a ride atop a petrol truck, but are forced to disembark before a police check point near a filling station. The truck driver tells Aldo that he'll pick him up the following day when the police are not around. Aldo meets Virginia (Dorian Gray), the attractive widow who runs the filling station, and asks if he and his daughter can stay until he can get a ride. Virginia offers him the shack next to the station and he accepts. The next morning Virginia offers Aldo a job. The truck from the previous day approaches and the driver asks if Aldo still wants the ride, but he declines, choosing to stay. That night their mutual attraction is undeniable and they consummate their desires.

The next morning while Aldo and Virginia continue their lovemaking, Rosina goes off with Virginia's father who harasses the new owner of his farm which Virginia recently sold. The new owner complains to Virginia about her father's behavior. Frustrated by her father's erratic behavior, Virginia decides to put him in a retirement home. Later that day Aldo and Virginia make love in an open field partially hidden by large wooden cable spools while Rosina plays nearby. When Rosina discovers them in their passion, she runs off upset. Back at the house, Virginia suggests they can no longer take care of Rosina, and soon Aldo puts her on a bus back to her mother. As the bus pulls away Aldo runs after her saying, "I won't forget you ... remember that I love you. I'll always love you."

Sometime later, after leaving Virginia, Aldo finds work as a mechanic with a dredge crew. Listening to his boss' tales of travel, Aldo begins planning a trip to Venezuela, but eventually loses interest. While walking along the river, Aldo sees Andreina (Lynn Shaw), a local prostitute living in a riverside shack. Andreina begins flirting with Aldo but he is now being sought by the police and has to rush off. Sometime later, Andreina finds the shack where Aldo is hiding and returns the coat he left. They go for walk along a wide expanse of rivershore as desolate as their future. Aldo tells her about a time when a group of his friends wanted to go to a dance, and a woman named Irma asked him to go to a museum instead. Andreina gets annoyed at the pointless story, despite its importance to Aldo all these years later. He remembers his old refinery job and how, from the tower, he could see his house, the river, and his daughter's school. Andreina remembers being pregnant once, and how it almost got her a man of her own, but the pregnancy "went wrong".

In the coming days the rain falls heavy over the Po valley and the river rises. The roof on Andreina's shack leaks and neither of them have any food. Andreina goes to a nearby restaurant where she intends to sleep with the owner for food. Aldo follows and tries to get her to come back, but she refuses. Aldo leaves dejected. The next day Aldo decides to return to Goriano, getting a ride in the back of a truck that stops at Virginia's filling station. Virginia gives him the valise he left behind and tells him about a postcard that arrived with news from Irma, which she says she has misplaced.

Arriving in Goriano, Aldo finds the town in ferment over the construction of a military airfield which the inhabitants object to, and those at work leave their jobs to join the protest. Aldo spots Rosina entering Irma's house and through the window sees that she is content with a new baby and living a better life. As he turns to go, Irma notices him outside and follows him to the refinery which the workers have just quitted. Filled with despair, Aldo climbs to the top of the refinery tower where he once worked. From the ground Irma calls up to him, and he turns and sees her down below. Appearing weak and disoriented, Aldo falls to his death as Irma cries out in despair. She kneels over his dead body.