Desire

Paola, a Milan call girl, returns home to her village in the Abruzzi mountains in an attempt to go straight. Rejected by her father, blackmailed by a former lover, and lusted after by her brother-in-law, she turns to her beloved sister for support. Denied succor, like so many of Rossellini’s isolated figures, Paola awaits the arrival of her fiancé, who has offered her a new start, but instead decides that life is untenable.

Cast

Massimo Girotti

Nando Mancini

Carlo Ninchi

Giovanni Mirelli

Elli Parvo

Paola Previtali

Roswita Schmidt

Anna Previtali Mancini

Lia Corelli

Elena

Francesco Grandjacquet

Riccardo

Jucci Kellerman

Lia

Spartaco Conversi

Giovanna Scotto

Elvira Previtali, Paola and Anna's Mother

Astorre Pederzoli

(uncredited)