Das Leben ist schwer

Just when you are thinking that Italy is a stupid country, ever been stupid and hopeless not to be stupid, find your old VHS of this movie and watch it again. Neorealistic dramas of the forties and the fifties depict a country in comparison of which Transilvanya seems Disneyland, and that's not reasonable; comedies of the sixties and seventies are quite silly and superficial. This film, along with "C'eravamo tanto amati" in my opinion, is a perfectly balanced synthesis of both streams. There's fun and there's poverty, laughter and desperation, and this makes it the most truthful social portrait of this strange, controversial place I live in. It's a good summary of recent national history as well. And it contains two or three of the highest peaks of comedy of the entire world's cinema, see the argument with the restaurant owner for the bill (I fear it works only in Italian, though)or the dinner at the aristocratic family the evening of the elections for the choice between monarchy and republic. This is worth a couple of lines. Silvio, a leftist journalist and former guerrilla soldier against fascists, and his wife are rejected by restaurants because of their lack of money. They meet an aristocrat they know who invites them for dinner. The reason is not generosity but the fact that at that dinner there are thirteen people, and a common belief was that the circumstance would bring bad luck. At the table a full inventory of the meanest and most grotesque old fashioned conservative characters of the time, who, in an embarrassing way, try to hide their opinion on the new despicable hosts and to be kind to them. As the dishes arrive the couple forget good manners and make a show of themselves. Conversation falls on politics and Silvio enworsen his situation with some bitter comments, while his wife kicks him under the table. Suddenly come the results of the elections: Italians chose republic! Someone faint, some other curse, but Silvio and his wife hug each other. The monarchists, now mad, leave the room and here comes the scene you'll remember: the butler comes, bearing a bottle of champagne, solemnly he approaches the two proletarians and fills their glasses in silence.

Written by Rodolfo Sonego, who, like the protagonist, was a partisan during the war, i.e., an antifascist resistance fighter, and directed by Dino Risi, Una vita difficile follows Silvio Magnozzi and the struggles he faces in his personal and professional life as a journalist and aspiring novelist. A movie that, at its core, could be influenced by Italian Neorealism considering the realistic depictions of the social problems in post-war Italy. Nonetheless, Risi's approach is, most of the time, humorous, never ceasing to find comedy in struggles. Alberto Sordi's sensibility combines an expertise in comedy and drama to give Silvio a mixture of idealism and cynicism in a story that takes place between the end of World War II and post-war Italy. The movie is interested in portraying the changes Italy went through and the difficulties that blossomed as a consequence. There's a dichotomy between what is happening in the life of Silvio, misadventures that render many moments humorous, and what is happening at a macro level: Italy's emergence as a republic after a referendum that put an end to fascism. Dino Risi portrays the political changes of an era not only through the eyes of our protagonist but also in an objective documentary-like fashion, taking actual footage of the events and including them in the movie, rendering his filmmaking an exercise in fictional realism.

The echoes of these changes manifest in Silvio's life. From posing ethical questions to existential ruminations. The movie raises the question of whether it is possible to live on one's own terms when they're challenged by the articulation of normative restrictions by translating Silvio's love for Elena (Lea Massari) but also for his profession as a writer and novelist into a dilemma where the options are postulated as mutually exclusive possibilities. The hegemonic desirability of what one has to do or be is never posed by the "I," but by societal norms whose authorship is never singular and cannot be pointed at. Has dignity a price? Can it be bought? Silvio's existential dilemmas, where his ethics as an idealist contest economic livability and what is deemed as "normal," will find resistance in different ways, e.g., his mother-in-law wants him to study architecture to better provide for his family. This is the reason why its humor is effective, but also the tragedy behind it. Una vita difficile exposes that we are nothing but cogs in the capitalist power structure machine incentivized to pursue superficiality and vapid consumerism. A society obsessed with material consumption.

Equally a character and historic study, Dino Risi's Una vita difficile is an entertaining commedia all'italiana that successfully achieves humor and profundity at the same time. An invitation to indulge in the charm of romance with music so beautiful as to be, once again, evidence of how important it can be in changing the feel of a movie.

The Italians are masters in the art of mixing to perfection laughs and tears. It is a pity to see the recipe gone, together with the great actors and directors; CINEMA DELL'ARTE has joined COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE in Ancien History. That was one more reason for my rushing to see this unknown pearl, re-masterized-but-not-too-much, probably intentionally, because this gives the movie an added patine which is quite pleasant to watch. The actors are wonderful, especially the late Alberto Sordi and Lea Massari, who kept acting in Italian and French movies until recently.I found the same pleasure as in Ettore Scola's C'ERAVAMO TANTO AMATI, 1974, to find many Italian actors and directors playing as themselves. Stars of the pre-war (Antonio Centa and Claudio Gora) are available too. IL SORPASSO was ending also at the gates of Viareggio, but Risi gave almost a real part to this Art Deco city in UNA VITA DIFFICILE. I am a fan of it since 1997, but in the movie it looked like a real paradise of the Sixties, when there was a nightlife in the Pinete (pinewoods, now abandoned to the bambini and the bikers, but still a daytime popular attraction). Some of the nightclubs kept their names, but turned into family restaurants and moved to the city's fancy promenade, unfortunately separated from the sea by the beach establishments.It was my "added entertainment", in a rare delight.If it shows around, don't miss it. harry carasso, Paris, France

This movie is really beautiful: it shows the life of a medium italian, this kind of italian is performed by Alberto Sordi, and he is always very good to make this parts. You can laugh very much with this film, as in every Alberto Sordi film.

Alberto Sordi is a talented actor, but other than Lo Sceicco Bianco, I have yet to find a movie where I have enjoyed his character. In this movie he plays an annoying self-centered loser who repeatedly abandons his wife/girlfriend and still gets her in the end. His difficult life is all of his own making. I would say that all self-centered losers should watch this film, but maybe they'll learn the wrong lesson. Don't waste your time with this movie.