Pays : Italie
Genre : Drame, Film historique
Durée : 2H28
Date de sortie :
Avec : Luca Zingaretti, Alessio Boni, Monica Bellucci
Réalisateur : Marco Tullio GIORDANA
A l’aube du 30 Avril 1945, cinq jours après la libération, on retrouve à la périphérie de Milan deux cadavres ensanglantés. Une pancarte fraîchement peinte les identifie : Osvaldo Valenti et Luisa Ferida, exécutés quelques heures auparavant par les partisans. Mais qui étaient Osvaldo Valenti et Luisa Ferida ? Adulé du grand public, le couple, aussi célèbre à la ville qu’à l’écran, faisait partie des acteurs de premier plan du cinéma des « téléphones blancs » que le régime fasciste avait voulu encourager. Parfaits dans les rôles du voyou séduisant et de la femme perdue et sans âme, ils scandalisaient la petite bourgeoisie italienne en incarnant ces personnages anarchisants et dissolus.
(L'avis exprimé par les rédacteurs de cette rubrique est indépendant du travail et des choix du Jury oecuménique.)
19 mai 2008
While running for two and a half hours, this is a continually absorbing film which has the sub-title, An Italian Story. Director Marco Tullio Giordana had been trying to make this film for more than two decades but, after his success with The Best of Youth, he was able to raise the money. It is a large project.
During the course of the film, there are two stories running parallel. The first takes place during the five days before the end of World War II and the setting is Milan. The second is in flashback to 1936 and then through to early 1945. In the first story, a famous actor, Osvaldo Valenti, a matinee idol who continued to appear in Fascist-backed films, gives himself up to the Partisans and saves his co-star and partner, Luisa Feridi. The Partizans accept this, especially former anti-Fascist director and exile, Golfiero Goffredi. However, they must stand trial for their complicity with the government and answer rumours that they had participated in the torture of prisoners.
The flashbacks tell the story of Osvaldo’s career, a Don Juan character with a cocaine and heroin problem, who survived and even became leader of a Fascist division. It also tells the story of Luisa, a country girl who wanted to be an actress, was seduced by Osvaldo, directed by Golfieri and became one of Italy’s leading celebrities, leading a wild private life while continually supporting Osvaldo.
As a picture of Italian cinema, production, the Venice festival, the government financed popular entertainments and the collapse of the Fascist agencies, the film is fascinating. As a human drama, it has its harrowing moments in the brutal experience of war. As an Italian story, it is a very good film. Luca Zingaretti as Osvaldo Valenti gives a mesmerisingly memorable performance and is supported well by Monica Bellucci as Luisa.
