La cena

Clearly it is an adaptation of Plato's The Symposium in which the Greek philosopher discusses about Love. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symposium_%28Plato_dialogue%29 Ettore Scola was great by transposing the Greeks' feasts to an Italian restaurant, simply great! Some people may be offended by gay directions, but it is Plato's position: the greatest love possible is between the master and his pupil. That explains the sweet erotic scene of the two guys at the end of the film. "The purpose of this was so that, when a man embraced a woman, he would cast his seed and they would have children; but when male embraced male, they would at least have the satisfaction of intercourse, after which they could stop embracing, return to their jobs, and look after their other needs in life." Symposium, 191c-d The film also shows other forms of Love like: mom and son, friends, man and woman... and all of them some problem shows up. And what really matters is to love rather than being loved.

Once again Scola manages to produce high quality cinema, needing for it no more than a good cast of actors and his magistral talent. Rather than the usual Hollywood menu of vulgarity, violence and sex, "La Cena" manages to present in its less that 2 hours, a wide array of dramas in the course of a single dinner evening in a common restaurant. At each table the guests will be immersed in a particular drama (mother vs. daughter, old professor with young student lover, etc.) which are autonomous in themselves but that seem to be part of a larger script. That is achieved thanks to the masterful camera movement that weaves itself among the tables and connects all the independent dramas offering us an orchestrated picture of the restaurant's whole microcosm. Well worth seeing.

The current score of this film (6.7) certainly does no justice to it and is indicative of what years of Hollywood-made movies does to what one expects from a movie.

This film does not have a coherent story, it does not take the viewer from point A to point B and thus does not offer any real "character advancement" or real "scenario". I believe the lack of those things causes the condemnation of most viewers since to most a "film" is a "story".

Well, Scola shows that it ain't necessarily so. This film could best be described as a series of "pictures" of characters and their situations. By taking us from table to table and shifting our attention from one to the next, he manages to portray the great deal of diversity of possible human positions/conditions/situations. The hall of the restaurant becomes a mosaic of people from all corners of the social structure and they have all kinds of fears, aspirations, hopes, sexual interests, political or financial anxieties, doubts or troubles.

Scola uses maestrically the twists of his characters moods and their dialogue in order to occasionally insert his own social or political comments, thus giving more substance to the film. He does so without showing that he wants to do so however, and the remarks might easily be passed by the uninterested or the uninitiated totally unnoticed.

The human conditions depicted in the film although presented in a light manner are no joke: The increasing distancing of a mother from her adolescent daughter, the illegitimate love between a professor and his student, the anxiety and lack of self assessment of a bank clerk, the anger of a grown-up daughter towards her supposedly un-loving father (and many more) are all deeply touching human conditions which Scola presents with a soft, warm, and at the same time lively manner.

The "gist" of the film is that by constantly moving from table to table and from situation to situation he slowly takes us through the collective proceeding of the "solution" or every case -either positive, negative or neutral- and when the film ends, you feel an undeniable sense of closure, of communication, of warmth, of collectiveness, of life. Scola makes us feel like we were sitting together with his characters, on their tables, and makes us understand what is the true meaning of sitting around a table with other people. It is the explanation of the "symposium" as one of the characters explains, too, in the film and Scola explains it in the most humane, warm and caring manner.

This film is nothing less than a masterpiece.

It was to be expected that most comments on this movie were of a congratulatory nature. What's not to like about a film that focuses on just one whole evening of people having dinner in a typical Italian restaurant, with typical Italian costumers with a typical Italian predilection for good food and wine, while eavesdropping on their typical Italian conversations? OK, I'm a bit too cynical here, I know. In fact, for people interested in Italian cultural peculiarities, this film is definitively worth watching. If you want to see a good and/or entertaining movie with interesting characters, a good plot or original directing, look elsewhere. Because the personality of all the characters is set and fixed from the start and nothing is done to add a twist in psychology or state of affairs of those involved, prepare for a long and tedious sit. Nearly every second somebody is talking, but not one conversation ever gets really interesting or funny. All in all, too much of the same.

This film is no small feat, by most criteria. There is not one scene, one piece of dialogue that doesn't work perfectly in its own right and in relation to the broader context of the movie. All characters are solidly conceived and utterly believable, and the flawless, well-measured acting of the WHOLE cast render them authentic and charismatic.

Depicting simply a night at a traditional Italian restaurant, the movie doesn't have a major unifying plot. It never needed one in the first place. The situations particular to each group of characters, to each table, are more than enough to keep the audience following the action flow through the place. The viewer's attention is held at peak throughout the whole movie, from beginning to end, which is a very rare and amazing achievement for any film. Even more amazing a feat it is for a movie which happens in one single place, with no more than a restaurant's few facilities for the action to spread.

As a whole, 'La Cena' showcases an intriguing and thoughtful, yet pleasant rendition of people's dilemmas, joys and relationships, contrary to the perception that "art" movies are tiresome, intellectual, self-indulgent exercises. This film potraits the beauty and poetry of life and human nature (corny, but nonetheless true), as masterfully as few but the European cinema masters can. A great example of the Italian tradition of moviemaking, ten out of ten, no doubt about it.

And on top of everything else, aren't there ugly, charmless women in Italy? Madonna mia!