Tutta la vita davanti (2008)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Paolo Virzì

Writers:

Francesco Bruni (screenplay) &
Paolo Virzì (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

28 March 2008 (Italy)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A brilliant recent graduate struggles to find work. After falling into a babysitting job, she is introduced by the child's mother to the world of the international call center, its employees, and the fast pace that drives them.

Plot Keywords:

Call Center | Female Nudity | Love Affair | Female Full Frontal Nudity | Working Class

Awards:

2 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Isabella Ragonese	...	Marta
Micaela Ramazzotti	...	Sonia
Giulia Salerno	...	Lara
Sabrina Ferilli	...	Daniela
Valerio Mastandrea	...	Giorgio Conforti
Massimo Ghini	...	Claudio
Elio Germano	...	Lucio 2
Laura Morante	...	Voce narrante (voice)
Edoardo Gabbriellini	...	Roberto
Valentina Carnelutti	...	Maria Chiara
Caterina Guzzanti	...	Fabiana
Elena Arvigo	...	Moglie di Giorgio Conforti
Paola Tiziana Cruciani	...	Madre di Sonia
Raffaele Vannoli	...	Assistente Claudio (as Lele Vannoli)
Mary Cipolla	...	Madre di Marta

Also Known As:

A Whole Life Ahead (USA)
Her Whole Life Ahead (Australia)

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Company:

Motorino Amaranto

Quotes:

Daniela: You're a very special girl, and your job is very special.

This movie has heart

Preamble for you foreign viewers: this movie is about the so called "permatemps"; that's temporary workers who effectively do the job of a permanent worker, but can be fired anytime and have no benefits at all. In the last 5-6 years in Italy, temporary job laws were introduced and had a devastating effect on society, especially on younger generations.

Finally a movie with heart about temporary workers, very well written and directed. You will be taken through the odyssey of Marta, a young graduate in philosophy who cannot find any job related to her studies, so to keep herself alive, she has to take a temporary job as a telephone-marketer.

While in the process of descending this inferno, she will get in touch with a wide spectrum of persons and situations, that will keep you interested in the story.

The writer/director does a very good job in building the story, you will really care for all the characters, even the two villains, who by the end of the movie show their human side.

My only remark to the script is when Marta engages in a totally gratuitous sex act that is very clichè, and the fact that the story does not really tackle with all the problems that a temporary worker has to face in Italy, mainly the inability to get any mortgage to buy a house, or the mandatory periods of time when the worker is left home without pay and then hired again later through a different mediating agency, which is the standard workaround to avoid the rather feeble restrictions imposed by the law.

Overall, this is a great movie that I recommend, it is an universal story about the de-humanization of people, that every viewer in the western world will feel connected to. Yet it still manages to be funny at times and rather moving.