FEDERIGO, OR THE POWER OF LOVE

An attenuated entertainment moves through an indolent circle, flirts with the attractive abstraction of infidelity, and retreats quickly from the situation which its rather feckless characters have provoked. Julian Ghent is a bit bored with his marriage to Sylvia- to the point where he composes two anonymous letters to himself, and signed Federigo, which suggest Sylvia's faithlessness; Sylvia, who is guilty only of lunching with Marius whom she keeps at a discreet distance, is persuaded by her analyst that the first letter is the product of her fantasies; Hugo and Alma, their friends, are securing a divorce; while Elaine finds love most charming when it involves deceit- and attracts Julian's wandering eye. The letters create trouble- not only for Sylvia, but also for Julian who is hounded by Federigo who appears and disappears, seduces and disrupts. A weekend planned between Julian and Elaine, Sylvia and Marius, leads them all unsuspectingly to the same destination, and serves to dispose of Federigo.... Nemerov writes well; his touch is long-fingered, fastidious, and a little supercilious; it is unfortunately applied, however, to those who have no genuine emotion to scratch- and no real passion to spend.