Giovanna Cau

A brief tribute to the great director, spanning through some insights about his character, his works, his life, through the words of critics, relatives, colleagues, with a collage technique of interviews, archive footage, and brief excerpts and pictures from some of his works.

Combien d’injustices doit encore subir le pauvre Gianni ? De ses collègues de bureau, à son infecte voisine, jusqu’aux exigences impossibles de son ex-femme, les brimades qu’il vit au quotidien sont infinies. Il faudrait se mettre en colère et apprendre à se faire respecter, mais comment fait-on?

Une vie vécue avec douceur, ce doux regard et ce sourire narquois, cette légendaire paresse. Aujourd’hui encore, dire Mastroianni ou Marcello évoque une époque : un monde fait de bravoure, de beauté, de charme, de gentillesse. Au travers d’interviews de ses proches et de ses collaborateurs, d’extraits de films et d’images d’archives, ce documentaire narré par Sergio Castellitto veut raconter un homme qui a été le plus grand acteur italien et a vécu de façon extraordinaire avec le succès, en pensant souvent qu’il n’était peut-être qu’en train de rêver.

Lisbon, 1938. Mr. Pereira is the editor of the culture section of an evening paper. Although fascism is on the rise in Europe, like in nearby civil war Spain or even inside Portugal itself in the form of Salazar's regime, Pereira only concerns himself with writing bios and translating French novels. Things change after he hires a young writer as his assistant, getting to know also his girlfriend – both opponents to the regime – and reluctantly helps them when they begin to get in trouble for subversive activities. Eventually, he's forced to take a stand...

Coming back from work by night, shy watchmaker Tommaso runs over a girl with his car, luckily without serious consequences. Next day he finds her waiting for him at his door. She asks him for help, as she can't remember anything prior to the incident.