A ROMAN PAIR

.... is a dilettante's pursuit of love, as Marcello, an intellectual, a writer, at 35 is still looking for a triad of virtues in one woman- simplicity, intelligence and ingenuousness. In Anna, a bit player in films, his search seems concluded; they share a happy affinity of tastes- and she is spontaneously satisfying in bed. But as the weeks pass- he entertains- justifiably- some jealous misgivings, corroborated as she leaves him for other lovers- returns- and leaves again. During one of the intervals in which Anna absents herself, he has a small satisfaction in his new relationship with the daughter of one of her former, objectionable lovers. It is interrupted as she comes back again- then leaves him to resume his reconnaissance elsewhere.... The inconstant pleasures of the flesh and the indignity of betrayal- these are acknowledged only to be shrugged off much in the vein of Moravia who also launched this vogue of worldly realism.