The Story of a Poor Young Man
((ROMANZO DI UN GIOVANE POVERO))
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Vincenzo Persico ...Rolando Ravello
Mr. Bartoloni ... Alberto Sordi
Prosecutor ... Andre Dussollier
Andreina ... Isabella Ferrari
Finelli ... Gianfelice Imparato
Lawyer Cantini ... Renato De Carmine
Vincenzo's Mother ... Sara Franchetti
Mad Neighbor ... Gea Martire
Bakery Woman ... Gloria Sirabella
Mrs. Bartoloni ... Aida Billarelli
Pieralisi ... Mario Carotenuto
Vincenzo (newcomer Rolando Ravello) hasn't found a teaching job in the six years since he finished college. He is forced to live with his mother, stretching her frugal pension to the limit. Gloomily alone in his humiliation, Vincenzo rebuffs even the girl who loves him (Isabella Ferrari) because he can't afford to take her out.
He becomes the unwilling confidant of another quietly desperate soul, his 70 -year-old neighbor Bartoloni (Sordi), who hates his obese, overbearing wife and fantasizes about romance with a pretty girl who works in the market (Gloria Sirabella.) Over glasses of grappa, Bartoloni proposes that Vincenzo bump off his wife in exchange for her money. With a nod to Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train," Vincenzo drunkenly agrees -- on the condition that Bartoloni get rid of his mother. A few days later Mrs. Bartoloni's swollen body topples over the balcony and squashes in the courtyard.
At this point pic switches gears. Vincenzo finds a job at a typesetter's, buys his mother a color TV and takes his girlfriend dancing. Bartoloni unexpectedly accuses Vincenzo of his wife's murder and has him arrested. A bundle of money found under Vincenzo's bed seems to clinch the case.
The public prosecutor (Andre Dussollier) comes up with three hypotheses, which he dictates to his assistant "Rashomon"-style. Leaving the ending open is a major frustration because the mystery has a perfectly plausible solution, and it is puzzling why Scola doesn't spell it out clearly, instead of beating around the metaphysical bush.
Sordi delivers a complex and subdued perf as the old romantic Bartoloni, who dyes his remaining hair in the illusion he is still attractive to women. He goes into a sad decline not because of his detested wife's demise, but because his dream of love is abruptly shattered. This furnishes a solid reason for his hating Vincenzo, the symbol of his vanished youth. Unfortunately, this logical explanation is awkwardly buried under the prosecutor's arty trio of "truths."
In any case, Scola seems far more intent on making a social point. Lensed by Franco Di Giacomo in sober, desaturated nighttime gray-greens and in Cinemascope , pic aims for a sweeping portrait of Italy's forgotten class -- the poor. Sharp viewers will notice that the lumbering Roman apartment building where the film was shot is the same Scola used in "A Special Day," as though he wanted to track its lower-middle-class residents into contemporary, post-fascist times. The portrait that emerges is honest if depressing.
Ferrari, who won a supporting acting award at Venice, stands out as Vincenzo's clear-headed, earnest g.f. Andreina, whom he sees as rich because she owns a good wallet and a moped. The late, great character actor Mario Carotenuto makes a touching last screen appearance as the kind print shop owner.
Camera (color, Cinemascope), Franco Di Giacomo; editor, Raimondo Crociani; music, Armando Trovajoli; production design, Luciano Ricceri; set decoration, Ezio Di Monte; costumes, Enrico Sabbatini, Simonetta Leoncini; direct sound (Dolby SR), Gaetano Carito, Benito Alchimede. Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (competing), Sept. 8, 1995. Running time:? 118 MIN.
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