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*** This review may contain spoilers ***
(Contains spoilers)Ferrara 1938: Two respectable citizens (Rupert Everett, Philippe Noiret) are suddenly ostracized; One because he is Jewish, one because he is gay. Dr. Fadigati (Philippe Noiret) is popular with his patients and esteemed by the bourgeois society. But they whisper behind his back: He takes the train to Bologna twice a week: What is he doing there? Whom does he meet? Some students he treated to a snack shadow him...Other students support the nazis and shout antisemitic paroles. One Jewish professor is forced to resign. David (Rupert Everett) is horrified and smuggles books for the professor who holds classes for Jewish children secretly by night. But David's father shuts his eyes to reality: "Germany is Germany and Italy is Italy. Some things will never happen here".The antisemitism in the university becomes more vehement: Even his teachers give David bad marks! His class-mates insult him but Eraldo, a popular student, comes to his help. Eraldo is charming and attractive. He comes from humble origins but intents to achieve something. He is a hobby-boxer and makes up to Dr. Fadigati in a provocative way and invites him to a boxing-match. He wins - not only the match, but Dr. Fadigati's heart. The doctor buys the young man a car and invites him to spend the summer with him in a luxury hotel by the sea. Members of the high-society of Ferrara witness their apparently exuberant flirting and are scandalized. One lady humiliates Dr. Fadigati during a game of bridge and suggests that "people like him" should be sent to coal-mines! Even Eraldo humiliates his submissive benefactor: He takes his presents and gets off with young girls. The doctor confides in David, that "love becomes pathetic at a certain age". Finally Eraldo gives him a slap in the face, breaks his gold-rimmed glasses and even robs him...In the meantime David has to cope with the fact that his own (Jewish) girlfriend Nora drinks champagne with a fascist grand duke "who knows no racist prejudices" she believes. She feels that the war is near and plans to convert to Catholicism.A couple of months late, David witnesses how some hooligans torment a gay man in an amusement-park and calls on Dr. Fadigati who lives in cramped circumstances. The rumors ruined him. He lost his patients, his practice, and he had to leave the city. David's father still tries to keep up appearances: "People keep their distance. Don't go out with this man!" He plays down the real danger (we are later informed that 151 citizens of Ferrara were deported in concentration camps).A stray dog is Dr. Fadigati's last friend, but after a couple of days the dog's owner turns up. The dog gives Fadigati a regretful look - then he joins his old master...Excellent film that contains one of Noiret's most moving performances. The actor demonstrates true understanding for Fadigati's character: A warm-hearted and generous man, a practical philosopher able to live with repressed feelings but so intimidated by the contempt of his former friends who cut him dead that he despairs of life. The film has a great cinematography into the bargain: The early scenes are veiled in brown light to accentuate the hopelessness but the summer-scenes are glaring and iridescent, expensive and a feast for the eyes. A very recommendable film!
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