Written and directed by Ermanno Olmi, I fidanzati (The Fiancés) is the story of an engaged couple whose relationship is tested when the man travels to Sicily for work as he copes with the sense of longing as well as his new environment. The film is an exploration of loneliness and long-distance relationships where a couple deal with themselves and their love for each other. Starring Carlo Cabrini and Anna Canzi. I fidanzati is a rapturous and gorgeous film from Ermanno Olmi.
The film is this simple story of a long-distance relationship between a man and woman whose life is changed when the man has to travel to Sicily from Milan to take a job that would last 18 months. It’s a film with a simple premise as it is largely told from the perspective of Giovanni (Carlo Cabrini) who is in Sicily to work in building a building as it’s a job that he had to fight for. Ermanno Olmi’s screenplay does have bits of flashbacks in the film though it begins at a dancehall where Giovanni and Liliana (Anna Canzi) are at attendance yet Liliana is reluctant to dance as it is clear that she’s not happy about Giovanni having to go to Sicily for his new job. Much of the story takes place in Sicily where Giovanni tries to find a place to live as well as get to know the environment where there is this clash of the emergence of modernism against the ideas of the old ways. For Giovanni, he’s stuck in the middle as he thinks of his father and of Liliana as he hopes this job he will take will give the two a future that is needed.
Olmi’s direction opens with the dancehall scene where it is presented in a wide shot with no dialogue as it is this scene where many middle-aged and elderly couples are waiting for the party to start. It’s a scene that happens in the span of minutes until the music arrives and everyone with the exception of Giovanni and Liliana are dancing as they’re just watching and debating whether they should dance or not. Shot on location in Sicily with additional shots in Milan, the film does play into this clash of post-war modern Italy in its emergence against the idea of rural Italy with its farms and old men fixing a windmill the old way. Olmi would include medium shots and close-ups to play into Giovanni’s sense of isolation in his new environment as well as the sense of longing he and Liliana have toward each other.
There is still an air of excitement and tradition in a major scene where many people are dancing with women wearing masks as it is this brief moment of joy for Giovanni as it is shot in wide and medium shots to get a scope of the town. Olmi would also play up this isolation in Giovanni during the third act in this sequence of montages that has him corresponding with Liliana as it would include bits of flashbacks of their love life for its third act. It play into Giovanni’s motivation to wanting to give Liliana a good life but also the sacrifices he must make in a world that is ever-changing. Overall, Olmi crafts a mesmerizing and somber film about an engaged couple dealing with being part of a long-distance relationship in Italy.
Cinematographer Lamberto Caimi does brilliant work with the film’s black-and-white photography as it play into this mixture of modern Italy mixed in with rural Sicilian life to contrast the two worlds with a sense of naturalism into the many locations of the film. Editor Carla Colombo does excellent work with the editing as she uses some jump-cuts as well as stylish montages to play into the sense of longing from Giovanni towards Liliana. Art director Ettore Lombardi and set decorator Antonio Visone do terrific work with the look of the places and hotels that Giovanni would stay at in Sicily as well as the dancehall at the film’s opening scene. The sound work of Guido Nardone is superb for its natural approach of how sparse things sound in the opening sequence as well as the raucous atmosphere of the big town party. The film’s music by Gianni Ferrio is wonderful for its somber score as it mixes traditional Italian string music with elements of rock n’ roll and pop into the film’s music soundtrack.
The incredible performances of Carlo Cabrini and Anna Canzi in their respective roles as Giovanni and Liliana is a highlight of the film. Canzi’s performance as Liliana is understated to play into her frustrations and sense of longing for Giovanni while Cabrini provides that sense of confusion and sadness into his role as Giovanni in the way he deals with his surroundings and the job that he has to do.
I fidanzati is a sensational film from Ermanno Olmi. Featuring great performances from Carlo Cabrini and Anna Canzi along with gorgeous cinematography and commentary on long-distance relationships in a modern world. It’s a film that play into the idea of sacrifices and loneliness in the expectations set upon in post-war Italy. In the end, I fidanzati is a phenomenal film from Ermanno Olmi.
Ermanno Olmi Films: Il Posto - (A Man Named John) – The Tree of Wooden Clogs - (Walking, Walking) – (The Legend of the Holy Drinker) – (The Secret of the Old Woods) – (Genesis: The Creation and the Flood) – (The Profession of Arms) – (Singing Behind Screens) – (Tickets-Section 1) – (One Hundred Nails) – (The Cardboard Village) – (Greenery Will Bloom Again)
© thevoid99 2018
Written and directed by Ermanno Olmi, Il Posto is the story of a young man who travels to Milan from a nearby Italian suburb where he deals with his role working as a messenger for an Italian corporation unaware of his new surroundings and reality in the modern world. The film is an exploration into Italy’s post-war economic boom and it downsides as it relates to a young man from a rural background trying to find work only to deal with a reality that is unsettling and confusing. Starring Loredana Detto, Tullio Kezich, Sandro Panseri, and Mara Revel. Il Posto is a riveting and somber film from Ermanno Olmi.
The film follows a young man who attends a job interview and exam hoping to get a viable position for this corporation in Milan that would help his working-class family only to be given a menial job as a messenger. It’s a film that play into a man’s search for work that would help him as well as give him a sense of importance as he also wants to do good for his family. Along the way, he meets a young woman who is also vying for a job that he wants as they bond in their search for work. Ermanno Olmi’s screenplay which featured contributions from art director Ettore Lombardi explore not just the difficult and baffling experience of job interviews for a corporation but also the sense of dehumanization in the corporate landscape. The film also has this odd structure that occurs in the film as it relates to the journey that Domenico (Sandro Panseri) endures where the first half is about him being interviewed for the job and the exams he has to take that involve his intelligence and skill but also physical and psychological tests with bizarre questions.
During the first half of the film where Domenico would also meet Antoinetta (Loredana Detto) who is also trying to get work to help her family as they spend much of the day looking around the city of Milan as it’s this world that is starting to emerge as this epitome of modernism. Then the film’s second half has this shift in tone where Domenico gets his foot in the door in the hopes of being a clerk but he ends up being a messenger where he looks at this room full of clerks ranging from middle-aged to elderly. A glimpse into the lives of these characters is shown as it play into a future that Domenico might face.
Olmi’s direction is evocative in the way he captures this air of modernism in Milan in the way it looks with buildings being built as if a new world is emerging from this post-war economic boom. Shot on location in Milan as well as areas nearby, Olmi does present this other location as a world that is dirty and grimy where it’s not as developed from the years after World War II in comparison to the spacious yet exhilarating world of Milan. Olmi would use wide shots of these locations that play into Domenico’s own sense of alienation and confusion of his surroundings that include crowded cafes and shops where everything is expensive. Olmi would use the wide and medium shots to play into this disconnect of individualism and loneliness within the corporate world as he would emphasize on the latter for the scenes in the second half where these clerks are working where it feels oppressive and claustrophobic. Even as there is this sequence that glimpse the lives of these individuals who work hard but are oppressed with one of them aspiring to write as an outlet for his oppression.
Olmi’s usage of close-ups play into Domenico’s own confusion as well as a sadness into this world he’s about to venture into. Yet, there are these lively moments such as a scene in the third act during a New Year’s Eve party that Domenico would attend hoping to meet Antoinetta who got another job in the same corporation. It would be a moment where despite the prospect of becoming a clerk and maintaining his work as a messenger, there is still so much he can experience. That is then followed by this ending that does play into Domenico’s future as well as what he will endure if he does succeed in being a clerk for this corporation where he’s just another peg in a world that is indifferent to individualism or human emotion. Overall, Olmi crafts a rapturous and eerie film about a young man dealing with the expectations in a corporate environment in Milan.
Cinematographer Lamberto Caimi does brilliant work with the film’s black-and-white cinematography as it play into look of Milan in all of its vibrancy in day and night as well as the way the office is lit including the desk of one clerk. Editor Carla Colombo does excellent work with the editing as it filled with stylish cuts as well as play into the drama with the jump cuts including the sequence of the clerks in their personal lives. Art director Ettore Lombardi does amazing work with the look of the offices as well as the home Domenico lives with his family.
The sound work of Giuseppe Donato is terrific for creating that sparse atmosphere at Domenico’s home and at the offices including the clerks’ office room with a more raucous sound for the scene at the cafe. The film’s music by Pier Emilio Bassi is wonderful for its music score that is largely a brass music piece that appears in the film’s opening credits and in another scene while much of the music soundtrack features some vibrant dancehall music that is played at the New Year’s Eve party scene.
The film’s superb cast feature a couple of small roles from Mara Revel as an older colleague that Domenico would work for and Tullio Kezich as a psychologist asking Domenico strange questions. Loredana Detto is incredible as Antoinetta as a young woman who is seeking to find a job at the same corporation that Domenico is seeking at as she would get work at a different place which only lead to this growing de-humanization process in the corporate world. Finally, there’s Sandro Panseri in a phenomenal performance as Domenico as a young man from a nearby suburb of Milan who travels to the city to get a job hoping he would work hard and rise up to help himself and his family only to see where he has started and the oppressive environment he would encounter.
Il Posto is a tremendous film from Ermanno Olmi. Featuring a great cast, gorgeous visuals, and haunting themes on modernism and the loss of individualism in the corporate world. It’s a film that showcases a young man entering into a world that is cruel and oppressive as he copes with the role he has to play. In the end, Il Posto is a sensational film from Ermanno Olmi.
Ermanno Olmi Films: The Fiancés – (A Man Named John) – The Tree of Wooden Clogs - (Walking, Walking) – (The Legend of the Holy Drinker) – (The Secret of the Old Woods) – (Genesis: The Creation and the Flood) – (The Profession of Arms) – (Singing Behind Screens) – (Tickets-Section 1) – (One Hundred Nails) – (The Cardboard Village) – (Greenery Will Bloom Again)
© thevoid99 2018
(Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival)
Written, directed, shot, and edited by Ermanno Olmi, L’Albero degli zoccoli (The Tree of Wooden Clogs) is the story of four peasant farm families working for a landlord in the late 19th Century as they deal with many trials and tribulations in the course of a year. The film is an exploration of life of farmers and workers living in the countryside as they deal with changing times and other events around them with many of the people in the film are portrayed by non-professional actors. L’Albero degli zoccoli is a ravishing and somber film from Ermanno Olmi.
Set in 1898 at the Bergamo region of Northern Italy, the film follows the year of the lives of four peasant farm families who work on a land for a landlord who has no care for their lives other than the money that is made from the harvest where he keeps 2/3 of the profits despite doing little to provide for his peasant farmers. It’s a film that has a multi-layered story that follows the lives of these four different families as the opening scene involves a man who is about to have a third child while struggles with the fact that his eldest son is given the opportunity to attend school nearby as the local priest suggests that the boy should get that chance for an education. Other storylines involve an old widow raising six children while her father is eager to plant tomatoes as he has a secret method while there’s a story of a young couple that are courting each other. Ermanno Olmi’s screenplay would follow the four families and at one point would focus on one family or all of them.
All the families would endure hardships such as changing seasons, births, deaths, and all sorts of things yet they continue to work and live their lives during the course of the year. Even as they all come together for a celebration or a gathering that include a moment where they go to a local fair to have some fun. Yet, there is this undercurrent of change that is emerging where a farmer is trying to pick up a gold coin while a man is making a speech about the ideas of communism. For these farmers, they don’t know much about the outside world nor do they care to as they much prefer to work as well as pray for each other as they would often attend church on Sundays. Still, there is this element of change that is happening that would become possible to ignore as it play into this dark emergence of modernism.
Olmi’s direction is understated in its approach to capturing late 19th Century life in Northern Italy as it is shot on location in Bergamo where all of the dialogue is spoken in the Bergamasque dialect. Shot in the 1:37:1 full-frame aspect ratio, Olmi would use the framing device to capture the simplicity of the landscape while the film doesn’t feature a lot of close-ups in favor of capturing the group of peasant farmers in medium and wide shots. Even as he maintains a realism in not just using non-professional actors but also in recreating a lifestyle and ideal that was much simpler before the emergence of industry and political ideals. Among these elements of realism is the fact there’s a couple of scenes of animals being slaughtered for food but it’s presented in a humane approach while there is also this tender scene in which the widow copes with her ailing cow as she prays for a miracle in the hope that the cow would recover. It’s these small moments in the film that include a scene of the father whose son is attending school as he would cut down a tree to create new clogs for his son.
Also serving as the film’s cinematographer and editor, much of Olmi’s approach to the visuals is straightforward as he aims for a naturalistic look in the photography in the way mornings are presented as well as a rainy day. For the interior scenes including a scene inside a room where the grandfather tells many of the other farmers and their families a story is presented in a natural lighting while the editing also play into some of the humor and drama. Notably in the latter as it would occur in a key sequence late in the film where the young couple arrive at the city of Milan where they notice something drastic is happening as it play into this emergence of chaos that is to come into the next century as well as the uncertainty if they can survive the modern world. The film’s ending isn’t just about the power of landlords and their indifference towards those who work for them but also the idea that prayer and sympathy can’t save everyone. Overall, Olmi crafts a touching and rapturous film about the lives of four peasant family farmers in Northern Italy before the emergence of the 20th Century.
Production designer Enrico Tovaglieri and set decorator Franco Gambarana do brilliant work with the look of the farm in its decayed look as well as the look of the convent-orphanage the young couple would stay in Milan. Costume designer Francesca Zucchelli does fantastic work with the costumes as it does play into the realistic and ordinary look of the farmers. The sound work of Amedeo Casati does terrific work with the sound as it play into the natural elements of the location as well as the way objects and animals sound on location. Much of the film’s music feature compositions from Johann Sebastian Bach that is performed by Fernando Germani is majestic for the way it play into the world that the characters live in as well as this air of faith that looms over them as it play into these characters seeking salvation in a world that is ever-changing.
The film’s spectacular cast filled with non-professional actors as it include Marlo Brignoli as the landlord, Emilio Pedroni as the foreman, Vittorio Capelli as the merchant seller Friki, Francesca Bassurini as a relative of the young bride Maddalena in Sister Maria, and Lina Ricci as a woman who believes in signs. The performances of Luigi Ornagghi as Batisti, Francesca Moriggi as his wife Batistina, Omar Brignoli as their son Minek are superb as is the duo of Lucia Pezzoli and Franco Pilenga in their respective roles as the young bride and groom in Maddalena and Stefano. The performance of Teresa Brescianini as the widow Runk and Giuseppe Brignoli as her father Anselmo are excellent while Battista Trevaini is terrific as Finard who finds a gold coin only for things to go wrong.
L’Albero degli zoccoli is a tremendous film from Ermanno Olmi. Featuring a great cast, gorgeous visuals, a haunting music score, and a somber yet devastating story about the simple life of four peasant farming families dealing with the ever-changing world outside of their quaint community. It’s a film that explore a moment in time and a lifestyle that was prosperous as well as being communal despite the emergence of modernism that would change everything. In the end, L’Albero degli zoccoli is a phenomenal film from Ermanno Olmi.
Ermanno Olmi Films: Il Posto – The Fiances – (A Man Named John) – (Walking, Walking) – (The Legend of the Holy Drinker) – (The Secret of the Old Woods) – (Genesis: The Creation and the Flood) – (The Profession of Arms) – (Singing Behind Screens) – (Tickets-Section 1) – (One Hundred Nails) – (The Cardboard Village) – (Greenery Will Bloom Again)
© thevoid99 2018
