''Life Is Beautiful'' (, , also known as ''Betrayed'') is a 1979 Italian-Soviet

romantic drama Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

directed by

Grigory Chukhray Grigory Naumovich Chukhray (23 May 192128 October 2001) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Ukrainian origin. People's Artist of the USSR (1981).Cinema: Encyclopedic Dictionary // main editor Sergei Yutkevich (1987). — Moscow: Sovi ...

Plot

The action takes place in an unnamed country (in foreign versions of the film the country is

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

during Salazar's reign), ruled by a military junta which violently suppresses any free thought. Antonio Murillo is a former military pilot who was dismissed from the army for refusing to sink a ship loaded with refugees. Now he drives a taxi and periodically becomes a witness to the despotism of the authorities. His girlfriend Mary, waitress, is a member of an underground movement fighting against the dictatorship. Antonio, for all his dislike of the junta is not interested in politics, his dream is to save money and to become a pilot again, and to own a private plane. But once he drives a man on his taxi, who turns out to be on the side of the opposition. This causes him to come to the attention of the special services. Because of that provocateur he ends up going to prison, where there are several members of the underground and ends up subjected to torture. Through ingenuity and mechanic skills he manages to save the life of underground fighters, disrupting the arranged provocation caused by the warden, and then organize an escape from prison. Together with Maria, Antonio in a stolen taxi gets away from the police, and then uses a hijacked plane to leave the country.

Cast

Giancarlo Giannini Giancarlo Giannini (; born 1 August 1942) is an Italian actor and voice actor. He won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' Love and Anarchy'' (1973) and received an Academy Award nomination for '' Seven Beaut ...

: Antonio Murillo *

Ornella Muti Francesca Romana Rivelli (born 9 March 1955), professionally known as Ornella Muti, is an Italian actress. Among the best-known Italian actresses, in her career, she has worked across various genres, working alongside Italian directors such as ...

: Maria *

Stefano Madia Stefano Madia (31 December 1954 – 16 December 2004) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in twelve films between 1978 and 1993. At the 1979 Cannes Film Festival he won the award for Best Supporting Actor, for Vittorio Gassman's film '' D ...

: Paco *

Enzo Fiermonte Enzo Fiermonte (17 July 1908 – 22 March 1993), sometimes credited as William Bird, was an Italian actor and boxer. Early life Vincenzo "Enzo" Fiermonte was born on 17 July 1908 in Casamassima, a rural village near Bari, in southern Italy to D ...

: Maria's uncle *

Luigi Montini Luigi Montini (born 24 February 1934) is an Italian actor in over a hundred films and TV shows since 1962. Selected filmography External links * 1934 births Living people Male actors from Milan Italian male film actors 20th-century ...

: episode *

Regimantas Adomaitis Regimantas Adomaitis (31 January 1937 – 20 June 2022) was a Lithuanian film and stage actor. He was also active in Russia and Germany. Career Adomaitis was born in Šiauliai. He graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Vilniu ...

: investigator Perez (voiced by

Vadim Spiridonov Vadim Semyonovich Spiridonov (; 14 October 1944 – 7 December 1989) was a Soviet film actor, film director. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1984). Winner of the State Prize of the USSR (1979), Winner of the Lenin Komsomol Prize (1980). Biography ...

) * Otar Koberidze: Alvarado (voiced by Vladimir Druzhnikov) *

Juozas Budraitis Juozas Budraitis (born 6 October 1940) is a Lithuanian actor. He has appeared in more than 60 films and television shows since 1966. He starred in the Soviet film ''Wounded Game'', which was entered into the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. Budraitis ...

: Gomes *

Yevgeni Lebedev Yevgeni Alekseyevich Lebedev ( rus, Евгeний Алeксeeвич Лeбeдeв, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲebʲɪdʲɪf; January 15, 1917, Balakovo – June 9, 1997, Saint Petersburg) was a Soviet and Russian actor and ...

: Rostao *

Stanislav Chekan Stanislav Yulianovich Chekan (; 2 June 1922, Rostov-on-Don — 11 August 1994, Moscow) was a Soviet actor of theater and cinema, known primarily for his blue-collar manly appearance, and character actor roles of a stereotypical "big guy". Biograp ...

: prisoner *

Igor Yasulovich Igor Nikolayevich Yasulovich (; 24 September 1941 – 19 August 2023) was a Soviet and Russian film and theater actor, film director and pedagogue. Biography Yasulovich was born in the village of Reinsfeld (now Zalesye) in Koshkinsky District ...

: prisoner * Mikhail Remizov: Osario

References

External links

* *
''Life Is Beautiful''
at

Variety Distribution Variety Distribution is an Italian-based film distribution company. It distributes Italian films worldwide, produced from the 1930s onward. History Variety Distribution (formerly Variety Film and Variety Communications) has been in the film ...

1979 films 1970s Soviet films 1970s Russian-language films Russian-language romantic drama films Italian romantic drama films Russian romantic drama films Mosfilm films Soviet romantic drama films 1979 romantic drama films Films set in Lisbon Italian political thriller films Soviet multilingual films Italian multilingual films 1979 multilingual films Films scored by Armando Trovajoli {{romantic-drama-film-stub Films directed by Grigori Chukhrai 1970s Italian films