The Two Lives of Mattia Pascal

Mattia Pascal is a petty profiteer,viscous,flabby,giddy,a landlord shamelessly cheated by his administrator (the swindler Malagna,played with some brio by Néstor Garay ...).

The Two Lives of Mattia Pascal is a movie of eerie atmosphere and of some great bits that mean much in the imaginary's archive.It begins after Mattia leaves his family (his wife and his mother-in-law).The events in Mattia's life suddenly take a soaring run;the casino's villains turn up.Mattia meets Véronique (Caroline Berg).The music is,throughout the film ,alert and powerful,suggesting rather a "giallo" than a satire.There is no transition between Mattia's provincial life and his Monte-Carlo break.The detachment,sarcasm,cool are those of the director Mario Monicelli. Not a very good movie,"Mattia Pascal" is nonetheless suspenseful, amusing, straightforward,grim also, mocking and cynical,in a standard TV way.It is a movie made to amuse.Anyway,Mario Monicelli made much better,and more inventive movies.

The feminine cast is in itself interesting:Laura Del Sol as "Romilda" (Mattia's wife);Clelia Rondinella as the rustic beauty "Oliva".

The score is Nicola Piovani's.