CANNES -- Paolo Sorrentino's The Family Friend is a murky and morally dubious film about an odious moneylender whose services come with exorbitant interest and a repulsive pretence of intimacy.
A misogynistic male fantasy that presents a bleak view of life in Italy, the movie argues that ugliness is beautiful, beauty is ugly and greed consumes everyone.
This means that when the loathsome 70-year-old Geremia (Giacomo Rizzo) finds himself alone with a beautiful bride, Rosalba (Laura Chiatti), on her wedding day, she responds to his creepy lust in order to reduce the interest on her father's loan of the money that's paying for the wedding.
Rizzo gives a remarkable performance as the repellent usurer, but the film so smugly endorses the notion that the man's totally cynical nature reflects us all that the film becomes cheap and nasty itself. Audiences will be hard to come by.
Mincing and groping, Geremia hovers by the men and women who seek the high-priced small loans that have made him rich. He assumes the mantle of a family friend even though he is universally despised.
Living at home with his mother, who trained him to be cautious and unbending in his business practices, he runs a tailor's shop with fastidious care, watching every penny.
After making a loan, Geremia involves himself in such minutia as choosing the wedding favors, invariably opting for something cheap and vulgar, even though it's not now his money.
When a strap breaks on Rosalba's wedding gown, her mother seeks Geremia's expert help in sewing it up. Left alone with the bride in her bedroom, Geremia's dry-leaf hands trail on her voluptuous flesh long enough to suggest he has more on his mind than fixing the strap.
Even a bride entering marriage without conviction might recoil at such skin-crawling lechery, but Rosalba suggests immediately that for a reduction in the 100% interest The Old Man is charging her father, something could be worked out. As the man's drooling increases, she gets him down to 10% although at a moment of heightened excitement he insists on twelve-and-a-half.
Two plot developments then ensue with Geremia, whose loans have always been moderate, tempted by a "sure thing" chance of doubling his money if he loans a businessman €1 million. To his surprise and joy, Rosalba reveals that not only is she in love with him but she is carrying his child. For the first time in his life, Geremia is smitten, and his judgment goes out the window.
There is no satisfaction in watching these linked events unfold, however, as the film fails singularly to provide any character worth caring about.
THE FAMILY FRIEND
Pyramide, Studio Canal and Babe Films
Credits: Writer/director: Paolo Sorrentino; Producers: Domenico Procacci, Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima; Cinematographer: Luca Bigazzi; Set designer: Lino Fiorito; Editor: Giogio' Franchini; Cast: Geremia: Giacomo Rizzo; Gino: Frabrizio Bentivoglio; Rosalba: Laura Chiatti; Saverio: Gigi Angelillo; Geremia's mother: Clara Bindi; Bingo's grandmother: Barbara Valmorin; Attanasio: Marco Giallini; Belana: Alina Nedelea; Saverio's wife: Roberta Fierontini; Teasuro: Elias Schilton; Montanaro: Lorenzo Gioielli
No MPAA rating, running time 110 mins.
A misogynistic male fantasy that presents a bleak view of life in Italy, the movie argues that ugliness is beautiful, beauty is ugly and greed consumes everyone.
This means that when the loathsome 70-year-old Geremia (Giacomo Rizzo) finds himself alone with a beautiful bride, Rosalba (Laura Chiatti), on her wedding day, she responds to his creepy lust in order to reduce the interest on her father's loan of the money that's paying for the wedding.
Rizzo gives a remarkable performance as the repellent usurer, but the film so smugly endorses the notion that the man's totally cynical nature reflects us all that the film becomes cheap and nasty itself. Audiences will be hard to come by.
Mincing and groping, Geremia hovers by the men and women who seek the high-priced small loans that have made him rich. He assumes the mantle of a family friend even though he is universally despised.
Living at home with his mother, who trained him to be cautious and unbending in his business practices, he runs a tailor's shop with fastidious care, watching every penny.
After making a loan, Geremia involves himself in such minutia as choosing the wedding favors, invariably opting for something cheap and vulgar, even though it's not now his money.
When a strap breaks on Rosalba's wedding gown, her mother seeks Geremia's expert help in sewing it up. Left alone with the bride in her bedroom, Geremia's dry-leaf hands trail on her voluptuous flesh long enough to suggest he has more on his mind than fixing the strap.
Even a bride entering marriage without conviction might recoil at such skin-crawling lechery, but Rosalba suggests immediately that for a reduction in the 100% interest The Old Man is charging her father, something could be worked out. As the man's drooling increases, she gets him down to 10% although at a moment of heightened excitement he insists on twelve-and-a-half.
Two plot developments then ensue with Geremia, whose loans have always been moderate, tempted by a "sure thing" chance of doubling his money if he loans a businessman €1 million. To his surprise and joy, Rosalba reveals that not only is she in love with him but she is carrying his child. For the first time in his life, Geremia is smitten, and his judgment goes out the window.
There is no satisfaction in watching these linked events unfold, however, as the film fails singularly to provide any character worth caring about.
THE FAMILY FRIEND
Pyramide, Studio Canal and Babe Films
Credits: Writer/director: Paolo Sorrentino; Producers: Domenico Procacci, Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima; Cinematographer: Luca Bigazzi; Set designer: Lino Fiorito; Editor: Giogio' Franchini; Cast: Geremia: Giacomo Rizzo; Gino: Frabrizio Bentivoglio; Rosalba: Laura Chiatti; Saverio: Gigi Angelillo; Geremia's mother: Clara Bindi; Bingo's grandmother: Barbara Valmorin; Attanasio: Marco Giallini; Belana: Alina Nedelea; Saverio's wife: Roberta Fierontini; Teasuro: Elias Schilton; Montanaro: Lorenzo Gioielli
No MPAA rating, running time 110 mins.
- 5/25/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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