There are two types of movies that came out of the 1960s: strange, experimental films and lusciously colored films that made later generations ask, "Were the sixties really like that?" Woman Times Seven is a mixture of both, which would be a reason to watch it, if you're interested in different types of classic films. The movie has beautiful costumes, lavish colors, and oddly 60s music; and at the same time, it's strange and experimental. Seven completely unrelated short stories—each about infidelity—are played out, all starring Shirley MacLaine! She really is darling, so if you want to see her in various wigs and furs, and with beautiful expressions from heavily made up eyes, you won't want to miss this one.

The vignettes themselves aren't really all that good. Shirley has several different costars, including Peter Sellars, Alan Arkin, Rossano Brazzi, and Michael Caine. But the plots vary from silly to stalker-y to sad. It's not the best movie out there, but it won't hurt you if you want to see pretty people up on the screen.

Shirley plays the lead in seven different stories in Paris in different love situations. The best one is the sixth, a marvellous travesty of Marcel Carné's "Le jour se lève" with Jean Gabin and Arletty, and almost identically in the same squalid hotel, where Shirley and Alan Arkin intend to do themselves in, but there are arguments about it. This is great fun and Cesare Zavattini and Vittorio de Sica at their best. The other episodes are rather uneven, but the second one, where Shirley comes home to find her husband (Rossano Brazzi) in bed with another woman, whereupon she runs out in the streets in a panic and happen to a bunch of prostitutes in the park, who decide to help her, while her husband comes running out in the streets after her in his pyjamas, is also well written. The tendency of the others is that you will eventually get a bit tired of finding only Shirley MacLaine in all of them - there is a little of Anita Ekberg in the last of them, but not much. All other characters are subordinate. It is entertaining on the whole, but you don't laugh much, while instead you find some situations rather awkward and painful, like the luxurious opera spectacle with Patrick Wymark in a typical role of his. Peter Sellers is excellent in the very first episode, which is the briefest. In brief, this is not one of de Sica-Zavattini's best works, but it has some excellent highlights.

My summary was facetious. Without good writing, a film simply isn't worth seeing--which pretty much sums up my opinion on "Woman Times Seven". It's very poorly written--quite uneven and at times annoying. The director didn't help any, as the film lacks subtlety and simply is a chore to watch. My only reason to watch it is that Peter Sellers was in it--but barely.

Shirley MacLaine stars in seven different vignettes as a woman living in Europe. The shorts are supposedly funny (which they aren't) as well as a bit bawdy. I real felt sorry for the actress, as she was far too talented to be in such a lousy film. In fact, my wife kept asking me "why are you watching that STUPID film"--until finally I realized she was right and turned off this dreadful mess.