Senza sapere niente di lei belongs to a series of “mystery” films that Luigi Comencini produced over the years, irregularly but consistently. In the early 1950s there were Persiane chiuse and La tratta delle bianche, noir melodramas with groundbreaking stories about the post-war bourgeoisie. In the 1970s, two mystery comedies characterised by a dark vision of Italian society: Turin in the Fruttero and Lucentini adaptation The Sunday Woman and the tenants of a Roman apartment block in Il gatto, based on a story by Rodolfo Sonego. In between stands this film, based on a novel by the director Antonio Leonviola and scripted by Suso Cecchi d’Amico and Raffaele La Capria, amongst others. Stylistically, it is one of the director’s most curious films, influenced by the experimentalism of the period, with flashbacks, ellipses and a loose syntax. In a Milan whose representation also incorporates bits of Rome, an insurance agency lawyer investigates the death of an elderly woman: if she committed suicide, the company will not have to pay out on a billion lira policy in favour of her children. The investigations reveal the pettiness not only of the relatives, but also of the detective, played by Philippe Leroy, who begins a relationship with one of the deceased’s daughters. The heart of the film, and ultimately the one truly positive protagonist, is this unsettled and neurotic young woman, incapable of being a rebel. It is a splendid performance by Paola Pitagora and one of the best female portraits in Italian cinema of the period. From his 1950s melodramas to La ragazza di Bube and from Delitto d’amore to the inquest L’amore in Italia, Comencini was always a sensitive chronicler of women.