A Cold Wind in August

If you care about love, you'll talk about a teenage boy and a woman who is all allure, all tenderness... and too much experience

Jul. 26, 1961

01:20:00

6.0

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Genres: Drama, Romance

Tags: Exploitation,

Keywords: Loneliness, Disillusionment, Older Woman Younger Man Relationship, more

Overview:

An older woman seduces an impressionable working-class boy who falls deeply in love with her. Disillusionment sets in when the boy discovers that she is a stripper.

Description

Iris, a woman with a background as a burlesque-show stripper, is visited at her New York City apartment by her estranged husband. He requests that she star in an upcoming show in Newark, New Jersey for which he is obliged to supply performers. She resists the idea, as she maintains her privacy by not working in shows in the New York area. However, her husband is desperately in need of assistance. While she has no romantic feelings for him and wonders why she had married him, she is amicable and feels sorry for his predicament, so she agrees to consider it.

In the meantime, Iris meets Vito Perugino, the 17-year-old son of the superintendent of the apartment building, and experiences an instant and powerful physical attraction to him. In their first meeting, she is shamelessly flirtatious. In their second, she seduces Vito, starting a passionate affair. Iris unexpectedly experiences an emotional attraction, and a relationship that she had originally intended to be brief turns serious. Vito asks Iris "to go steady" with him, and although she laughs at the phrase, she happily accepts.

After Vito's jealousy causes trouble, Iris attempts to withdraw from him, but the attempt only makes her miserable. She becomes obsessed with him, wishing to resume a sexual and emotional satisfaction that she has never experienced with any other man. She returns to Vito and they begin to patch their relationship, declaring their love for one another, but Vito is still unaware of her occupation, believing her to be a model or actress.

When Iris performs in the Newark burlesque show, Vito's friend sees her and informs Vito. He initially refuses to believe it, but he attends the next night's show and confirms that Iris is indeed a burlesque performer. Vito lacks the ability to cope with the destruction of his idealistic view of Iris, and an explosive argument ensues.

After a week, Iris contacts Vito, hoping to reconcile by inviting him to her apartment for dinner. But upon his arrival, she quickly realizes that his interest in her has waned. Although he is no longer angry with Iris about her occupation, the discovery and argument has lessened his passion for the relationship. Vito acknowledges what Iris has sensed. He tries to console her, and Iris assures him that her love is genuine. Vito leaves, on his way to a date with the new object of his romantic attention, a girl his own age, and Iris is left alone sobbing.