Il marchese del Grillo (1981)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Writers:

Leonardo Benvenuti (screenplay)
Leonardo Benvenuti (story)

Release Date:

22 December 1981 (Italy)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

The marquess of Grillo is a good-natured, clever and women-loving man who is always inventing stories and cracking all types of jokes...

Awards:

7 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Alberto Sordi	...	Onofrio Del Grillo / Gasperino
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Caroline Berg	...	Olimpia
Andrea Bevilacqua	...	Polpeo
Tommaso Bianco	...	Amministratore
Riccardo Billi	...	Aronne Piperno
Flavio Bucci	...	Fra' Bastiano
Angela Campanella	...	Faustina
Marina Confalone	...	Camilla
Elena Daskowa Valenzano	...	Marchesa del Grillo
Isabella De Bernardi	...	Figlia di Gasperino
Ivan De Paola
Gianni Di Pinto	...	Maruccio
Elena Fiore	...	Anita
Giorgio Gobbi	...	Ricciotto
Jacques Herlin	...	Rabet
Salvatore Jacono	...	Bargello
Isabelle Linnartz	...	Genuflessa
Elisa Mainardi	...	Moglie di Gasperino
Camillo Milli	...	Segretario del Papa
Cochi Ponzoni	...	Rambaldo
Marc Porel	...	Blanchard
Renzo Rinaldi
Paolo Stoppa	...	Papa Pio VII
Pietro Tordi	...	Monsignor Terenzio
Leopoldo Trieste	...	Padre Sabino

Also Known As:

Le marquis s'amuse (France)

Runtime:

Italy:135 min | Spain:115 min | Argentina:135 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Canale Monterano, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Opera Film Produzione

sordi at his peak

Are we dealing with Alberto Sordi's top interpretation? Maybe not, but we are as close as hell...Anyway, superbly directed by Monicelli (once again, excellent job done in Cinecittà Studios recreating the early 19th century Rome), Sordi impersonates eccentric Marchese del Grillo, who actually lived, although not in the same period the movie depicts. Monicelli uses Del Grillo's myth and his plethora of jokes to expose the hypocrisy of Vatican and noble Romans, while ideas such as "freedom, equality and brotherhood" were slowly penetrating in the conservative Vatican State. Marchese del Grillo is surely a life-lover and an intellectual in his own way, and does not feel satisfied in narrow-minded 1815 Rome, despite (or maybe, because of) his wealth. He befriends frenchmen, enjoys spending time with common people and doesn't mind to corrupt a whole jury just to show that "justice is dead". While the first part of the movie may be just biographical (and extremely funny and full of unforgettable punchlines), the movie has its pivotal point when Marchese discovers he has an exact lookalike, who works as a coal seller (also played by Sordi, outstanding in his double role) in popular Rome. By trading places with the coal seller (often drunk, thus not really understanding what's going on), Marchese gets the chance to get rid of his family, the Pope Rome to join the cradle of European intellectual life, Paris. Sure, Alberto Sordi is by himself worth watching the movie, but nevertheless, Monicelli manages to show us an unusual side of History we often see or read. And by doing this, he also throws in the movie an handful of unforgettable characters both fictional (the coal seller, Don Bastiano, Ricciotto) and actual (Pope Pius VII, a noble family, such as the Del Grillos). Well, in the end, a must see, a movie with a double value: an outstanding comedy and a valid historical film.