Francesca on AllMovie

A group of aging friends, foes, and former colleagues gather to celebrate and deride the life of 80-year-old actress Francesca on her birthday. The distinguished thespian appeared on both stage and screen, but was best known for appearing in Fellini's films, particularly her one starring role in Frances Degli Angeli. A true woman of mystery Francesca was an orphan who was discovered by a depressed countess. Her domineering, cruel husband forced his wife to give the baby to a convent. There, some of the good nuns found in her purity and natural goodness, while others found her to be conniving and sly, opposing viewpoints that would dog the enigmatic Francesca for the rest of her life. The fun of this off-beat, satirical German exercise in cinema verite comes from the fact that Francesca is completely fictional. The former Fellini film veterans are not though. Many of the others are not professional actors, and almost all involved were encouraged to improvise by first-time feature film director Verena Rudolph, lending a further illusion of reality ( or surrealism depending on your viewpoint) to the film.