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RELEASES Italy

An exceptional comic duo in Sotto una buona stella

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- Carlo Verdone’s latest comedy also starring Paola Cortellesi came out in Italian movie theatres on February 13 with Filmauro

An exceptional comic duo in Sotto una buona stella
Paola Cortellesi and Carlo Verdone in Sotto una buona stella

You go and see one of Carlo Verdone’s films feeling reassured. You know you will be able to laugh and reflect, you know the plot will seamlessly flow without too big a surprise, you know there will be perfect details to pick up on thanks to his exceptional ability to observe real life, a piece of society that only he is able to collect with such irony. And then there is him, Carlo Verdone, a talented comedian we have all come to love. Sotto una buona stella [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
is no exception. The popular Roman director’s 24th film came out on February 13 with Filmauro in 730 cinemas.

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In this film, laughter is only increased thanks to the presence of Paola Cortellesi: their duets, many of which are improvised, are shows of professional comedy. He is disoriented and under pressure, she is full of life, and good sense. Both are fragile and in search of a hug. But Sotto una buona stella also speaks of the difficult father-son relationship and of a younger generation’s lack of prospects. The screenplay, written by the director with faithful Pasquale Plastino and with Gabriele Pignotta and Maruska Albertazzi, tells the story of a single father focused on his career (Verdone) who has never been involved in his children’s (Lorenzo Richelmy and Tea Falco, who gave an intense performance in Me and You [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Bertolucci) lives, but who after the death of his ex-wife and job is confronted with a newly chaotic living situation.

Cortellesi, his new neighbour, enters the scene after twenty minutes, and the film gets going. A professional firer ridden with guilt (she fires people during the day and at night volunteers her time towards helping the unemployed find a new job), she will use her generosity to try and mend the family living on the other side of her thin apartments walls. In exchange, Verdone will help her with her own family, pretending to be her boyfriend. No surprise that fiction will soon turn into real life (it is the Saint-Valentine’s day period after all).

Entirely filmed inside the Cinecittà studios, Sotto una buona stella is mostly an inside film –theatrical - where most of the actions take place in the main characters’ apartments. The poets’ assembly scene is hilarious in its triviality and incoherence, paying homage to the Castelporziano Poetry Festival, which the director attended when he was a university student (“an infernal Sabbath,” he remembers). One scene comes across as a comic variation of a party scene from The Great Beauty [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile
]
. Verdone actually also stars in Sorrentino’s Oscar-nominated film: “A unique opportunity, seeing as I will never get there with one of my own films,” he says. He may not get to the Oscars, but in Italy, Verdone is a great master: a champion of popular comedy, anchored in real life, subtly bitter.

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(Translated from Italian)

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