There are stories that need to be told in the cinema. Paola Cortellesi he is proving it to us with his blockbuster film There’s still tomorrow. But it is certainly not the first time that the Roman actress and director, through the seventh art, tries to explain unflattering phenomena of our society. And which fill the news pages. The last will be last (2015) is one such film.
Tonight on TV on Rai 2 at 9.20pm the film will be broadcast Massimiliano Bruno. Film adaptation of the theater show of the same name written and staged by the same duo Bruno – Cortellesi. The title of the film is taken from the short story of Vincenzo FioreMetaphysical Exile published first on The morning and subsequently in the collection desired by Franco Dragone Cairano, Happy relationships.
The plot of “The last shall be last”
What is a scared, nine-month pregnant woman doing with a gun pointed at a policeman? The last will be last tells the story of Luciana Colacci (Paola Cortellesi), a simple woman, a worker in a local factory, who dreams of a dignified life together with her husband Stefano (Alessandro Gassmann). An expert and idealistic mechanic who finds himself unemployed because he does not want to work as an employee for others. It is precisely at the culmination of their dream of love, when Luciana’s belly begins to grow, that their world begins to fall apart.
Alessandro Gassmann and Paola Cortellesi in a still photo from the film “Gli Ulti Sranno Ulti” (2015) by Massimilano Bruno. This is why it is the film to watch on TV tonight (photo Ansa)
Or rather, it is Luciana’s that ends up upside down. Left at home because she is pregnant and unable to find another, she will decide to demand justice and rights from the wrong person. That is, someone like her: the policeman who immigrated from Veneto, Antonio Zanzotto (Fabrizio Bentivoglio). A film that, between laughter, lies, misunderstandings and about-faces, tells emotions in all possible nuances. Our Lord said that the last will be first… but he did not say exactly when.
Paola Cortellesi and the limit of women’s tolerance
It took Paola Cortellesi almost 10 years to bring this subject from stage to screen. In the theater she played all the characters. «We were only talking about a bad night and the characters that populated it, while in the film we had to tell the story of the before», explained the actress when the film was released in cinemas. She where she earned 2 and a half million euros. «In the theater I was able to interpret them all only thanks to theatrical convention and the imagination that is possible in the theater, but not in the cinema. For me it was nice to dedicate myself only to Luciana who here also has the role of narrator, and she moved me very much to see and hear the lines that I have uttered hundreds of times, said by these extraordinary actors.”
The theme, however, is what gives the film extraordinary strength. Many, too many, of us have suffered the same fate. Even if we haven’t all reached the extreme consequence as in the case of the film. «The question is: what is the limit? There are terrible news stories: what leads a normal, honest person, with an average life, to become dangerous and uncontrollable? Luciana, gradually, with a descending parable, loses her affections. It all starts with work but it’s the lack of emotional support that makes her collapse, she loses all grip on reality.”
Alessandro Gassmann is also on the same wavelength. Absent husband who doesn’t seem to understand the situation. «There is not a political message, but a social one», he is keen to underline. “It’s certainly brave and necessary right now. I’m very involved in the project, then it’s clear that everyone has their own political ideas, but it’s not part of my job as an actor to talk about this.”
The key word of the film is given by the director Massimiliano Bruno. «Dignity means that men and women have the same opportunities: we should always remember that Italy is a republic founded on work, that everyone has the right to a dignified job, with which to live for who we are».
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The post first appeared on www.amica.it