Made in Italy (2008)
Directed by Stéphane Giusti

Film Review

Made in Italy is an engaging but somewhat insubstantial film which deals somewhat half-heartedly with themes that auteur filmmakers in France seem to have a particular affinity for - midlife crisis, loss of identity and inter-generational conflict.  It is the third film for the cinema directed by Stéphane Giusti who, as in his previous film Bella ciao (2001), draws on his own experiences as an artist of dual nationality to reflect on his Italian origins.  Like the central character in the film - played so adeptly by Gilbert Melki - he was born in Italy and raised in France.

Giusti made his cinematic debut in 1999 with Pourquoi pas moi?, an amiable comedy militating for tolerance towards the homosexual community in France.  This he followed with a far more ambitious work, Bella ciao, a sprawling family saga spanning three generations which is distinguished by its surreal and poetic interludes.  Made in Italy is a comparatively lesser work, an earnest but somewhat misdirected attempt to imitate Italian comedy that is let down primarily by a script that lacks coherence and depth.

The film's Achilles heel is that it sets out to tackle many serious subjects without really making much headway with any of them.  Despite the abundance of acting talent (Melki is ably supported by a bevy of beauties including Françoise Fabian and Caterina Murino), none of the characters is developed in sufficient depth to ring true.  Unable to invest his characters with well-rounded personalities, or perhaps being too in thrall to popular Italian cinema, Giusti falls back on cliché and caricature.   Like its central protagonist, Made in Italy is a film that badly suffers from a crippling crisis of identity, which its constant switching between French and Italian dialogue merely exacerbates.

Film Synopsis

Luca Morandi is a young writer who is already 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 deal with 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 highly 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...