Dolce far niente

This movie has been made by different production companies (Sintra, K2, France 2 Cinéma, CNC, Eurimages) who all wanted to have their crew-member or their own cast. So this movie has no consistent personality. It is based on the book by François Vitoux (La Comédie de Terracina) which based it on the book by Henri Beyle, better knwon as Stendhal: "Voyages à Rome, Naples, Florence 1817-1826". Nae Caranfil was the director and he made the script. The title: "Dolce far niente" suggests that the protagonists are not working and just making love; "Amor, Vino e Revolutione". Stendhal became later consul at Civittavecchia but this story happened during the twenties when he came for the first time in Italy and at that time he wrote articles about music and the arts. The fight against the revolutionaries gives the movie some action but most of the time it is a romance in a historical context. So Stendhal (François Cluzet) falls in love with Josphine (Isabella Ferrari). Everybody is calling Rossini "Maestro" and the countess is just a fan of him. It is not clear if Stendhal should have encountered Rossini (a wooden Pierfrancesco Favino) but this ads some historical figure to the weak script. This movie is just entertainment and is not pretentious but one wonders if you learn something more about Stendhal or Rossini.