Review by planktonrules

"Fedora" is the penultimate film that Billy Wilder directed (his final being "Buddy Buddy" with Walter Mathau and Jack Lemmon) and I cannot recall another one of his films that is this unusual. The structure of the plot is very odd as well as the story...but if you are patient, it's well worth seeing.

The story is mostly set in Italy. An American film producer (William Holden) has come there to try to convince a timeless actress, Fedora, to come out of retirement and star in his new film. Unfortunately, his task turns out to be a lot more difficult than he anticipated and it turns into a strange mystery. When he finally is able to get around Fedora's handlers, she tells him she's being held prisoner by them and she desperately wants to escape. There is MUCH more to the story than you'd think at this point...and the plot goes in some very unexpected directions. There is much more I could say about the plot, but won't as it might give away some of these plot twists.

The acting is generally good, though I wasn't as impressed by Fedora nor the Contessa's acting. The story, while very oddly constructed, was interesting and I think that the film's lousy performance in theaters was very unfortunate, as it really is a creative and interesting story. Well worth seeing.