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Synopsis:
In an upper class Italian family, middle-aged Countess Elena (Elda Tattoli) has an affair with a lower-class man named Carlo (Paolo Graziosi), while Vittorio (Glauco Mauri) — in love with his young secretary Giovanna (Daniela Surina) — seeks a shift from teaching to a political career despite having no such skills, and young Camillo (Pierluigi Aprà ) takes a hard-line approach to Socialist politics and sex.
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Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:
- Black Comedy
- Class Relations
- Cross-Class Romance
- Italian Films
- Marco Bellocchio Films
- Political Corruption
- Siblings
Review:
After wowing the cinematic world with his debut film Fists in the Pocket (1965), Italian director Marco Bellocchio followed up with this political satire also focusing on grown siblings, but with much more intentional digs at structures, class, religion, and corruption.
Because I wasn’t particularly taken with this film, I browsed around on IMDb to see what others thoughts, and saw this informative review by someone with a different opinion.
This playfully weird, dark satire of, well, everything from over-serious young Marxists, to the Church, to class climbing, to family, to marriage, to abortion to political ambition, to wimpy socialists who don’t really believe in anything except ‘success’ entertained me in a way Bellocchio’s much better known and more highly praised Fist In His Pocket never quite did.
As with that earlier film, this is a very dark comedy, where everyone’s morals, beliefs and ethics are paper thin and no one is worthy of much admiration. The young Bellocchio had quite a bleak view of human nature, and the shallow, manipulative way we use each other, our sexuality and our emotions. But here, like a Paddy Chayefsky film on acid, we laugh at the darkness at the same time we shudder.
I appreciated this assessment of what one might get out of it (and why) — though I honestly found it challenging to remain focused on the (intentionally chaotic) storyline; and given that we really don’t like or admire anyone, there is very little to hold onto.
Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:
- Tonino Delli Colli’s cinematography
Must See?
No, though of course Bellocchio fans will definitely want to check it out.
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