Commedia all'italiana (i.e. "Comedy in the Italian way"; pronounced
[komˈmÉ›Ë dja all itaˈljaË na]) or Italian-style comedy is an
Italian film genre. It is widely considered to have started with Mario
Monicelli's I soliti ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street) in 1958 and
derives its name from the title of Pietro Germi's Divorzio
all'italiana (Divorce Italian Style, 1961).Rather than a specific
genre, the term indicates a period (approx. from the late fifties to
the early seventies) in which the Italian film industry was producing
many successful comedies, with some common traits like satire of
manners, farcical and grotesque overtones, a strong focus on "spicy"
social issues of the period (like sexual matters, divorce,
contraception, marriage of the clergy, the economic rise of the
country and its various consequences, the traditional religious
influence of the Catholic Church) and a prevailing middle-class
setting, often characterized by a substantial background of sadness
and social criticism that diluted the comic contents.As he said in an
interview with the director Mario Monicelli, the Italian comedy
(Commedia all'italiana) is something very simple, which is closely
tied to popular culture of Italy. It is a tangle of stories of the
poor and unfortunate in a highly unfortunate and negative setting,
i.e. the period of poverty that followed in Europe and especially in
Italy after the end of World War II. In any plot of the films of this
genre, there is a group of thieves and bandits who would like to make
ends meet by ramshacklely preparing a big hit. However each has its
problems and its difficulties, attributable to ignorance,
incompetence, inadequate means, unrequited love and many other
mishaps. The whole plot of the story revolves around these seemingly
unnecessary misunderstandings, allowing the viewer to have a clear and
precise vision of the deficiencies of the Italians of that period and
of both the gloom and joy of the whole of Italy. The group of
cheaters, apparently achieving their aim with deceit and cunning, at
the end of the story almost always find themselves duped and crushed
economically and psychologically worse off than before. Whoever comes
out best the story is always the most powerful, either in the
political arena or in some other social context. What makes the viewer
laugh are the jokes about the repeated blunders of the actors that
would make them famous during the preparation of their shots. The
element of sadness is very much present in all the stories on the
theme of Italian comedy, not just the mockery of the poor people who
seek to improve their situation, but also to the bitter end show a
bitter smile and a dim hope of the protagonists into the future. Just
think of the situation or the tragic end of the film Il sorpasso (Dino
Risi) or the melancholy end of the film I soliti ignoti in which
thieves have fail in their coup, losing everything they had. Another
important feature of this type of comedy is the feeling, although the
social condition of the people who populate the stories is extremely
low, the protagonists have shown great will to live, to love, to
dream, to become almost a taste of the film sentimental. What breaks
this feeling is a typical Italian clumsiness or a fall, which
immediately pulls the viewer a big laugh. The protagonist is at once
sentimentally duped. In the sixties and seventies such plots merged
with the satire. Even in these stories, such as in Signore e signori
buonanotte (1976), as it denotes skill in manifesting Italian taste
satirical scenes is exaggerated and extremely scratchy. The characters
are targeted by powerful people or satire inept people, extremely
rude, bad, almost animalistic, almost personalities related to the
masks of the Commedia dell'arte. The Italian comedy ceased to exist in
the eighties, by which time the principal actors had become old,
replaced by a comic genre focused more on the vulgar and abusive side
of the characters, which followed very American models. With the
Americanized transformation of this comic genre in Italy, the kind of
Commedia all'italiana finally died. The last film that famous still
strongly reflects the characters of the Italian comedy is Il marchese
del Grillo, directed by Mario Monicelli (1981). Alberto Sordi plays
the role of a spoiled rich Marquis of Rome who is bored by the day.
For this he designs jokes on the poor and the helpless for no
particular end, as if they were toys from the living room. His joker
cynicism is not stopped even by the power of Pope Pius VII. This film
still strongly reflects the character of the average prankster kid of
the sixties, who only caring about himself and what he has, not caring
of others and to those most in need. Cynicism is the main theme of
this film, based on a true story.Vittorio Gassman, Marcello
Mastroianni, Ugo Tognazzi, Alberto Sordi and Nino Manfredi were the
five top stars of Italian Comedy in the 1960s and 1970s, followed by
newcomers such as Stefania Sandrelli, Monica Vitti, Giancarlo
Giannini, Mariangela Melato, Catherine Spaak; or dramatic stars in
comic roles such as Enrico Maria Salerno, Claudia Cardinale. Commedia all'italiana Biography, Weight & Height, Age, Nationality & Ethnicity
Subscribe by Email
Follow Updates Articles from This Blog via Email