A STORY ABOUT LIFE… ITALIAN STYLE!
One of director Nanni Moretti’s most acclaimed films is this three-chapter journey. In the first part, Moretti has an encounter with Jennifer Beals in Rome and visits the site of Pasolini’s murder. Next, he travels to the Aeolian Islands with a friend who falls under the spell of American soap operas (especially The Bold and the Beautiful). In the third chapter, Moretti deals with his skin cancer, a distressing experience from his own life. The director has made a movie about a subject he knows best (himself), but it has enough charm to carry it through the first two light-weight, amusing chapters. The final part brings depth, a first-hand analysis of what it feels like to be a patient.
1994-Italy-France. 100 min. Color. Produced by Angelo Barbagallo, Nanni Moretti, Nella Banfi. Written and directed by Nanni Moretti. Music: Nicola Piovani. Cast: Nanni Moretti, Renato Carpentieri, Antonio Neiwiller, Carlo Mazzacurati, Claudia Della Seta, Jennifer Beals.
Cannes: Best Director.
Last word: “Because I have in the past joked about my neuroses doesn’t mean I have come out of them. In [‘Caro Diario’], I talked about the cancer I had in reality, but I wasn’t cured by talking about it on film, I was cured by chemotherapy.” (Moretti, The Independent)