By the time Vittorio de Sica made his final masterpiece of neo-realism, 'Umberto D', that particular genre had pretty well become a spent force and like many directors he was to turn his critical gaze on Italian society by means of Commedia all'Italiana and there are few films of this type that are as searing and as savage as this.
Written by his brilliant collaborator Cesare Zavattini and starring Alberto Sordi, this is a biting satire on Italy's so-called 'economic miracle' which in reality proved miraculous only for the few. The mordant wit is balanced by the pathos of the pitiable situation in which Sordi's spendthrift character finds himself. His high maintenace wife has taken their child and left and he is literally up to his eyeballs in debt. He is thrown a financial lifeline but one which requires a grotesque and scarcely believable trade off........
Although Signor Sordi considered his best role to be in Dino Risi's scathing critique 'La Vita Difficile', for this viewer at any rate his portrayal here under de Sica's direction is one of his greatest and one in which he displays his mastery of comic desperation. His facial reaction to the offer made by the formidable Signora Bausetti is unforgettable. She is played by Elena Nicolai, making her first film appearance since retiring as one of opera's greatest mezzo sopranos. Her performance is a veritable tour de force and one is hardly surprised to learn that her operatic reputation was sufficiently high as to have a peak in Antarctica named after her! Perfectly cast as Sordi's beautiful but vacuous spouse is Gianna Maria Canale although 'dubbed' as usual.
De Sica's pacing here is spot on whilst the film's farcical nature is underlined by Piero Piccione's jaunty score, not to mention a bizarre but nonetheless effective use of the jukebox hit 'Wheels'.
Although too close to home on its release to be well received, in today's world of rampant consumerism and crippling debt it remains alarmingly relevant.
