Made in Italy (2008) - film review

Luca Morandi is a writer who is on the brink of a midlife crisis.  Born in Italy, he has spent most of his life in France, but, at 35, he suddenly realises that he has no cultural identity.  He is struggling with a mental block when he learns of the death of his father, who has remained in Italy since divorcing his mother.  Accompanied by his sister, Isabella, Luca sets off for Italy to make the funeral arrangements.  To his surprise, he learns that his father, Antonio, was not quite the man he remembered.  A cosmetic surgeon, Antonio Morandi was attractive to women, and he married several times, accumulating large debts along the way.  Luca’s feelings for his father undergo a sudden and dramatic change when he discovers how he lived his life...

Made in Italy is an engaging but somewhat insubstantial film which deals with the familiar auteur themes of midlife crisis, loss of identity and child-parent conflict in a typically Gallic fashion.  It was directed by Stéphane Giusti who, as in his previous film, Bella ciao (2001), draws on his own experiences as an artist of dual nationality; like the central character in the film, he was born in Italy and raised in France.  To date, Giusti has made only three films, and this is the least satisfying, lacking the narrative and stylistic coherence of his previous work.  The main problem with this film is that it tackles many serious subjects without dealing with any in any great depth, and so, whilst it is mildly entertaining, it fails to have the impact that it should.  Like the character it portrays, Made in Italy is a film that suffers from a crippling crisis of identity, which its constant switching between French and Italian dialogue merely exacerbates.

© James Travers 2008

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