Antonio Albanese, cast and producers present his fifth film as director, Cento Domeniche, a denunciatory and necessary film, at the Rome Film Festival before arriving at the cinema from November 23rd with Vision Distribution.
There was a lot of waiting and it paid off for the new film by Antonio Albanese, Cento Domeniche, perhaps his most personal work which takes him back to his origins in a certain sense. In fact, the actor and director starts right from there to tell the story of its genesis Rome Film Festival 2023, where it premiered. It will then be released in Italian cinemas from November 23rd distributed by Vision Distribution: “It represents my social background, as he had already done with different styles and rhythms, a story of injustice and oppression. Pietro Guerrera who knows me like a brother, we developed the subject and screenplay, starting from the idea of the working-class origins. We began to develop studying this drama, reading, meeting, I found myself in the character also due to her age (59 years old, pre-retirement), my daughter is Liliana’s age, my mother is Giulia Lazzarini’s age and resembles her. twisted with immense and incredible cruelty, I got help from the community that raised me, to tell this shame, and I want to say one thing: Our film respects the banking system, which partly helped us finance it, but wants to remember what a single person can cause”.
He then continues on the topic of documenting himself by talking to people with a similar story to Antonio’s: “There were victims who lost sleep, we followed everything with a psychologist, who saved human lives with her work. We charged ourselves with humanity and tried to treat him with honesty, truth and serenity to the end. With Pietro we tried the concrete facts, the words actually said to those people, we went around Italy to interview people, we read as much as possible of what was documented by journalists. It’s a trauma that goes from collective to individual, you see the end of your world, they take away everything you own, it’s a story that resembles many others, in which a man alone faces suffering, a litmus test and the opportunity to talk about a loneliness that unites us all”.
Intense sequences
The story of the protagonist Antonio, worker who wants to give his only and beloved daughter the wedding of her dreams with his life savings but he finds himself dealing with an elusive bank that hides secrets, it’s very touching and there were several very intense sequences to shoot: “Body and speech embrace each other, there were very painful and tiring scenes, not only physically but psychologically and humanly, when you enter the bodies of others you have to try to fully experience their sensations, there are various powerful phrases in this film and I hope they will be jokes that will develop over time, such as when he tells his lover ‘We’ll all end up in the bottom’, a tragically comic phrase said in a moment of defiance.”.
He then adds Antonio Albaneseaimed at everyone, from the cast to the crew to the producers: “Thanks to a production that accepted this idea with courage, to the actors and actresses who humanely accepted this challenge, to their extreme sincerity in identifying themselves as much as possible, for the purposes of its realization. I have been in this environment for 33 years and believe me, it wasn’t at all obvious to find a team like that”.
What is the message of the film? “What should remain after? I talk about respect and honesty, I look for them at every moment of the day, as in all my jobs after all, because it can save and change things. There is the expression ‘I lose one in ten’ , entire communities have been left depressed because of stories like this, because if it happens to you, your family and so your community will also be affected, this is what evil can cause. The victims don’t even have the courage to react, they even blame themselves for what happened, they remain locked in the house for months out of shame, this too is incredible but very true and current. A certain type of evil must no longer be repeated, Pietro and I collected crazy anecdotes during the research and we asked ourselves where the culprit was, because it is a sort of ‘pure’ crime, we are in 2023 and not in a regime, yet there are people hit in the soul and destroyed. Italy has almost 5 and a half million working class, they are not the last but the first, they are the ones who support this country and have been abandoned for a few decades. I’m shocked every time it’s talked about in these terms.”.
One Hundred Sundays, the review: Antonio Albanese makes a solid and painful film
Antonio’s women
There are two women in Antonio’s life. The ex-wife, played by Sandra Ceccarelli that says: “Antonio and I had already been married (laughs) in a small cameo in Amelio’s film The Fearless, he was an unfortunate character and I loved him despite everything, I’m glad he called me back, perhaps remembering that collaboration. It was easy as an actress fulfill the desire for humanity that he asked for, she is a person who exudes humanity in an incredible way. My character loves her ex as rarely happens, but the malaise and depression lead him to isolate himself from everyone and one of the first is the ex-wife, Ken Loach often came to mind, and in particular a scene of a man crying in My Name is Joe, I associate the two films without problems”.
Then there is Emilia, the only daughter, to whom she lends her face and body Liliana Button: “Antonio is a wonderful person, we were filming together in Grazie Ragazzi for just one day but he told me that I seemed good to him and that if he made a film in which he needed a daughter he would call me. After a few months he did so and I stayed I was taken aback, I didn’t expect it. I honestly never had any difficulty feeling connected to the story, he is a director and an actor of great professionalism and emotion, we had a great time, I couldn’t hope to work in a film other than this”.
Production needed
A necessary filmthis is how he defines Albanese One Hundred Sundays. The producers echo this, starting from Carlo Degli Esposti in Palomar: “I started at a disadvantage because I always say yes to Antonio. Palomar’s editorial line is not so much that of wanting to make films, but of not being able not to make a certain film. The genesis of Cento Domeniche was very fast in this sense, we were in the aftermath of Covid, there was the fixed idea of making a film on the side of the first. We often put the last first in our productions. We are really proud to have done it”. Closes Dario Fantoni: “When Carlo and Nicola Serra talked to us about it, we took over, because we think that a film of this level has an important scope and chances of achieving commercial success. I’ll say straight away that the release – from November 23rd – will be very wide. Long live Antonio and long live cinema”.
The post first appeared on movieplayer.it