Vittorio de Sica (director)
StudioCanal (studio)
Cert PG (certificate)
85 min. (length)
23 April 2012 (released)
23 April 2012
From the director of ‘Bicycle Thieves’ comes this bittersweet Italian comedy cum rags to riches story – told charmingly and farcically in b/w.
Made in 1963 and set during the Italian economic miracle (economic boom!) which transformed the country in the span of a decade, Il Boom tells the story of Giovanni (Alberto Sordi), a man who lives far beyond his means to provide a life of sheer luxury for his beautiful and spoiled wife Sylvia (Gianna Maria Canale). One day, the inevitable happens: Giovanni has racked up so many debts that his name appears on the debt collector’s register. Not only does the prospect of losing his beloved wife cause him sleepless nights, but he also loses face when confronted by Sylvia’s overprotective father. His bitterly disappointed wife walks out on him, as do most of his friends – proof that they care more about status than about a friend in need.
Shamed and humiliated, Giovanni plays with the idea of committing suicide when a chance encounter with elderly and very rich Mrs. Bausetti (opera singer Elena Nicolai) sabotages his plans. Mrs. Bausetti has a proposition for the hapless Giovanni: if he is willing to ‘sell’ one of his eyes in order to help restore businessman Mr. Bausetti’s (Ettore Geri) full eye sight again, he will receive a substantial amount of money from the couple. Desperate and eager to win Sylvia back, Giovanni agrees to the operation for the sum of 55,000 Lire, and some advance payment in cash.
Returning back home and swindling everyone into the belief that he just opened his own company with all the necessary upfront investments paid, Giovanni hosts a lavish party in his house. During its course, he gets drunk and starts insulting the very friends who turned away from him when he was poor and in need of help.
The next day, it’s time to honour his part of the deal and he sets off to the hospital, telling his wife he needs to go on a business trip…
Alberto Sordi’s performance lies halfway between pathos and Jaques Tati’s comical talent, and the film’s more existentialist and dramatic moments are lifted by moments of almost absurd humour.
Il Boom will also screen as this year’s ‘Italian Film Festival in Scotland’, so if you happen to be north of the border go check it out at the Edinburgh Filmhouse, where it will be shown tomorrow (24th April).
If you are unable to make it, then you can get it on DVD, albeit with subtitles that are a trifle too small to make for easy reading.
