In essence, this film could be a 1930s Warner gangster film: two childhood friends split up and meet more than twenty years later; one has become a gangster, the other a public prosecutor. The twist here- which they couldn't have then- is that the gangster is a woman and they begin to fancy each other. Of course, it might be even more of a twist if they were both women... On one level it's an efficient, well-made film. The trouble is, that's all it is. Yes, it's a melodramatic plot, but the whole history of Italian crime is melodramatic. The trouble is, while we know the conventions for 1930s gangster films, we don't know them here. We don't know about the children's backgrounds. We don't know why Lucia hitched up with Infantino and had a child with him. We don't know how Ignazio got to go to university. We don't know why Fabio became a heroin addict. We don't know how Lucia got to lead a bunch of misogynists- she shows no especial skills or abilities- and stayed in control of them. There's too much we have to take on trust for it to be a great- or even very good- film. All the same, it's worth watching, as long as you don't expect too much of it, and the last few minutes, as Lucia takes shelter with Ignazio after all of her gang has been killed and his career has been destroyed, and we see the two of them walk out of each others' lives for fatal futures are genuinely powerful and moving and reach the level of tragedy.