Scent of a Woman

Scent of a Woman (Profumo di donna, 1974) is an Italian comedy-drama directed by Dino Risi — watch it online on iFILM. Vittorio Gassman plays Fausto, a caustic, blind ex-army captain who insists on making the trip from Turin to Naples on his own terms, accompanied only by a young cadet named Ciccio.

Fausto has no patience for pity. He reads rooms through footsteps and voices, and can place a woman from across a restaurant by scent alone. Ciccio signs on expecting to babysit, and discovers instead a man who rebuilt his entire relationship with the world after losing his sight — proud, sharp, and occasionally very funny about it.

The film picked up a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film that year. Two decades later, the story was remade in America — Al Pacino stepped into the role and walked away with an Oscar, but Gassman's original remains something else entirely: rougher, stranger, and more honest. Stream Scent of a Woman (1974) online on iFILM.