Stay as You Are

Plot

While in Florence on business, Roman landscape architect Giulio Marengo meets an alluring college student, Francesca, and spends the night with her. She is the foster daughter of an agriculturist named Bartolo who has looked after her since the death of her mother, Flora. Later, a friend of Giulio's sees Franscesca in a restaurant and implies that she might be Giulio's daughter. It is a possibility since Giulio had been going out with Flora the year before Francesca was born. Shocked by the idea, Giulio tries to cool his relationship with Francesca. Meanwhile, he is distracted by the revelation that his unmarried daughter Alexandra, who is about the same age as Francesca, is pregnant.

Giulio tries unsuccessfully to get to the truth of his alleged paternity, and finally decides to tell Francesca the reason for his conflicting behavior. She flatly dismisses the insinuation, however, saying she regards Bartolo as her only true father. She then accompanies Giulio on an uninhibited holiday in Madrid, where Alexandra has gone to try and sort things out with her lover. Upon returning to Florence, Giulio must get back to Rome to attend to his business affairs. But that night Francesca insists they see the movie Vampyr together and he falls asleep. Upon waking up, she is nowhere to be seen, indicating that their love affair has run its course.

Cast

Production

Director Alberto Lattuada shot scenes for the film at various locations in and around Florence, including the Piazza San Giovanni, the Piazza San Marco, and the Boboli Gardens. The opening title sequence was shot on the grounds of Villa La Pietra.

The musical score was composed by Ennio Morricone, who previously collaborated with the director on Matchless. A soundtrack album was released in 1978 by Cinevox, and again on 14 July 1995 by Prometheus Records. The soundtrack is notable for its inclusion of the love theme "Amore per Amore", as well as the two disco tracks "Dance On" and "Spazio 1999".

Reception

This film received positive reviews, especially for Nastassja Kinski's performance. According to the American poster for this film, Bruce Williamson of Playboy called it "A truly sexy film". Time magazine also praised Kinski's performance saying, "Kinski is simply ravishing, genuinely sexy and high-spirited without being painfully aggressive about it." Conversely, Janet Maslin of The New York Times called the film "dangerously smarmy at times—dangerous because its cheapness undermines Mr. Mastroianni's essentially serious performance, which is the backbone of the movie. The film works best when the story seems to generate its sexual encounters spontaneously. But there are too many times when the plot looks like a pretext for stringing together amorous interludes."

Because Kinski was just 17 years old at the time, her many nude scenes created controversy. She has since disapproved of the nudity in the film on a number of occasions. Recalling the film in a 1981 interview with People, Kinski said, "There was no one prepared to say, 'She shouldn't do that. There is no point.' No one to protect me. I was just a young girl, in Italy. It was stupid." In 2001, Kinski reiterated her dissatisfaction with her performance: "Let's put it this way, if that was my daughter, I wouldn't allow that. I wouldn't allow certain people to say certain things or to try certain things."