Marco Bellocchio’s adaptation of Luigi Pirandello’s famous play disappoints on every level; not excluding source material. Not that you can’t see its appeal as catnip to past-prime stars of a certain age. Here Marcello Mastroianni is the modern man who’s bumped on his head and comes to believe he’s Medieval Emperor Enrico IV. Living in an old cloisters, he passes the days surrounded by paid lackeys playing court games while his relatives bring in a psychologist who has a plan to shock him back to reality. But is he really mad or just playing a game of control to avoid life’s responsibilities? (This too another form of madness, no?) Opened out with a big waiting game for the rest of the cast (Claudia Cardinale and other relatives hoping for a breakthru) there’s a bit of amusement seeing Luciano Bartoli play the younger Enrico in what seems to be old Mastroianni hair styles from his matinee idol days. But it all plays as if everyone is vamping for a tune that never shows up. The pursuit of empty prestige is palpable. Pass.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: Mastroianni made lots of unhappy choices in his later years, but the old lion was no spent force. Given a decent script and a sympathetic director, he’s a worthy father and opponent fit for sparring with Massimo Troisi under Ettore Scola’s direction in CHE ORA È? https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2024/02/che-ora-e-1989.html OR: Courting controversy, and likely to be showing its age, Peter O’Toole & director Peter Medak play similar games in their Pirandello influenced social satire THE RULING CLASS/’72.
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