Negroni’s film has gained a special place within Italian cinema from the teens, thanks to an original performance by Francesca Bertini: it is one of the few films from those years in which a famous actress agreed to make herself hard to recognize beneath costumes and makeup. As such, the film introduced the little loved and infrequent practice of disguise into the star system with the provincial flavor that characterized the era. In the opening frames of the film, Bertini appears for a few seconds in front of a curtain in one of her usual elegant poses, facing the audience with her hair down and wearing a long dress, as she takes off her shawl and lays it over a chair. The star is about to remove her street clothes and put on her costume, perhaps in a photo studio or more likely in a theater or film studio dressing room. The next shot, again just for a few seconds, shows her impeccably disguised as Pierrot. A small gesture for an actress anxious to remind audiences that, beneath Pierrot’s ruffed collar, the heart of a diva continues to beat.

Claudio Camerini, in “Immagine. Note di storia del cinema”, n. 7, 1984