Allonsanfan (1974)

A anarchist leader (Fulvio) wishes to retire, as he is old and tired. He tries to hide himself, but his friends find him and insist he carries on helping them.

Directors:

Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani

Writers:

Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani

Stars:

Marcello Mastroianni, Lea Massari, Mimsy Farmer

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marcello Mastroianni	...	Fulvio Imbriani
Lea Massari	...	Charlotte
Mimsy Farmer	...	Francesca
Laura Betti	...	Esther
Claudio Cassinelli	...	Lionello
Benjamin Lev	...	Vanni 'Peste'
Renato De Carmine	...	Costantino
Stanko Molnar	...	Allonsanfan
Luisa De Santis	...	Fiorella
Biagio Pelligra	...	Il Prete
Michael Berger	...	Remigiano
Raul Cabrera
Alderice Casali	...	Concetta
Roberto Frau
Cirylle Spiga	...	Massimo

Storyline

A anarchist leader (Fulvio) wishes to retire, as he is old and tired. He tries to hide himself, but his friends find him and insist he carries on helping them.

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Plot Keywords:

period drama | anarchist | female armpit hair | anarchism | politics | 

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Title derived from the first two words of the French national anthem.

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Connections

Featured in Filmstunde: Filmstunde 2 (1992)

User Reviews

this is no Italian comedy, it's a political movie

This movie is a quite open metaphor for the attitude of many leftists in Italy (and elsewhere) in the 70s. It's about Fulvio, a man who left his house and loving and wealthy family (and also an illegitimate son) in order to free the poor and oppressed and to become a full-time revolutionary agitator, and who - after only 3 months in prison and the suicide of a comrade - decides that it was all a mistake and that he should go back and live with his brother and sister in their villa, where he is pampered by old, mama-like servants, seeking happiness in family life. But his past thwarts his project, first when his ex-lover (an emancipated, passionate, Hungarian revolutionary woman, beautifully played by Lea Massari) appears at his home, mocking his family and shocking the servants with her manners, then when the whole bunch of revolutionary, Utopian friends of Fulvio tries to involve him in a crazy plan: initiate a revolution in poor, backward, oppressed Southern Italy. Fulvio gets involved in the plot against his will. The more he tries to get away from his former comrades, the more - ironically - he gets deep into the plot, till the sad, grotesque end. Taking place during the Restoration which followed the fall of Napoleon and seemed to mark the defeat of ideals created by the French Revolution, the movie is a bitter reflection about the fact that in everyone, even in the most revolutionary and idealist persons, there is a part which is counter-revolutionary and anti-idealistic. Fulvio is willing to betray his friends and comrades in order to live a quiet life, having lost every interest and hope in fighting injustice and oppression. It's a movie about political engagement and the following delusion, about a suicidal courage in pursuing ideas which are absolutely unrealizable and the cowardice of those who just want to enjoy life (as long as they are on the sunny side of it...), about individualism and blind dedication to THE cause and to the party/group/revolution etc. It's a sad movie in which the main figures oscillates between appeasement with the existing injustice (Fulvio's private, inner Restoration) and empty, finally pointless revolutionary beau gestes (like his comrades). We follow Fulvio and his friend from a lovely, rich Lombardy (with its villas, lakes, hills), in which men and Nature seem to harmonize perfectly, to a bare, sun battered countryside of Southern Italy (with its extremely poor towns), in which the unnaturally red jackets of the revolutionaries stand out as something which do not belong there at all. When still in Lombardy, Fulvio seeks villas and palaces, but his friends force him always to go to abandoned places, ruins, warehouses. They offer him nocturnal bivouacs instead of well furnished dining rooms like the one he brings once his illegitimate son. But they act in the name of an ideal, he in the name of his individual happiness. Is a conciliation of both motives possible? The ending of the movie seems to give a deluded, cynical answer to the question.

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

1 March 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Allonsanfan

Filming Locations:

Matera, Basilicata, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Una Cooperativa Cinematografica, Ministero del Turismo e dello Spettacolo

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1