insists on taking Sylvia to the ruins for the first time. All three of them go into the cave to escape a thunderstorm and Fabrizio again pretends they are lost as he did with Laura. Sylvia breaks down sobbing for her mother, all traces of her confidence and maturity lost in the fear of being in the cave. Fabrizio repeatedly begs Sylvia to stay with him forever. In the morning, Sylvia is still lost in the cave and further rejects the desperate Fabrizio and his pleas to stay with him. She becomes hysterical and he kills her with a knife, feeling it is the only way he won't lose her. He stays with the dead body and gives Laura the flashlight telling her she knows the way home and Laura reluctantly leaves. The film ends with a translation of the poem "Akarsz-e játszani" ("Would You Like to Play?") by Hungarian writer Dezső Kosztolányi. Cast Lara Wendel as Laura Eva Ionesco as Silvia as Fabrizio Xylot as Iro the dog Crew Directed by: Pier Giuseppe Murgia Camera: Lothar Elias Stickelbrucks Music: Giuseppe "Pippo" Caruso, Jürgen Drews Music Editing: Grandi Firme della Canzone Company: Petra Cinema 23/Seven-Star/Petra Cinematografica spa Scriptwriter: Peter Berling Dialog: Italian version: Barbara Alberti & Amedeo Pagani Cinematography by: Elias Lother Stickelbrucks Color Pictures: Technospes Spa, Rome, Italy Production Management: Günter Prantl Costume Designer: Isolde Jovine Audio: Alexander Hillebrand Assistant Camera: Wolf Bachmann & Horst Zagolla Decorator: Helga Wandl Assistant Director: Anita Rakosi Film Editing by: Inga Seyric Producer: Franco Cancellieri Countries: Italy, Austria, Germany Filming The film was co-produced by two Munich companies as well as an Italian enterprise, filmed from 17 August to 16 September 1976, in upper Austria and Kärnten. Chosen to play Sylvia was young Eva Ionesco, herself no stranger to controversy, as her mother was infamous in their native France for her photos featuring a then five-year-old Ionesco in semi-sexual artistic photography. In May 1977, at the press conference for the presentation of the film, Eva Ionesco said it was "vulgar, shocking and useless". Controversy Maladolescenza is known primarily for its use of a young actor and two 11-year-old pubescent actresses in scenes involving both nudity and simulated sex. It's largely unseen in all but a few countries primarily for this reason. In Germany, although released uncut in cinemas at 91 minutes in 1977, public outcry caused for several scenes to be removed on