Il boom

It may well be Vittorio De Sica's best sixties (overlooked) movie.A very somber comedy,with Alberto Sordi on the top of his form.This movie has a contemporary feel:what could one person do to stay (or to become ) rich? A broke businessman is approached with a smile by a middle-aged lady (wife of a wealthy man) .He believes she wants to make him her lover .Little did he know she would ask for one of the most precious parts of his body (no,it is not what you are thinking of,but I won't write a spoiler and reveal what it is).Like Comencini's "Lo Scopone Scientifico" ,"Il Boom" deals with man's exploitation of his fellow man. De Sica ,Comencini and Dino Risi are much more accessible directors than Fellini or Antonioni but their words don't cut;they bite.

By the time Vittorio de Sica made his final masterpiece of neo-realism, 'Umberto D', that particular genre had pretty well become a spent force and like many directors he was to turn his critical gaze on Italian society by means of Commedia all'Italiana and there are few films of this type that are as searing and as savage as this.

Written by his brilliant collaborator Cesare Zavattini and starring Alberto Sordi, this is a biting satire on Italy's so-called 'economic miracle' which in reality proved miraculous only for the few. The mordant wit is balanced by the pathos of the pitiable situation in which Sordi's spendthrift character finds himself. His high maintenace wife has taken their child and left and he is literally up to his eyeballs in debt. He is thrown a financial lifeline but one which requires a grotesque and scarcely believable trade off........

Although Signor Sordi considered his best role to be in Dino Risi's scathing critique 'La Vita Difficile', for this viewer at any rate his portrayal here under de Sica's direction is one of his greatest and one in which he displays his mastery of comic desperation. His facial reaction to the offer made by the formidable Signora Bausetti is unforgettable. She is played by Elena Nicolai, making her first film appearance since retiring as one of opera's greatest mezzo sopranos. Her performance is a veritable tour de force and one is hardly surprised to learn that her operatic reputation was sufficiently high as to have a peak in Antarctica named after her! Perfectly cast as Sordi's beautiful but vacuous spouse is Gianna Maria Canale although 'dubbed' as usual.

De Sica's pacing here is spot on whilst the film's farcical nature is underlined by Piero Piccione's jaunty score, not to mention a bizarre but nonetheless effective use of the jukebox hit 'Wheels'.

Although too close to home on its release to be well received, in today's world of rampant consumerism and crippling debt it remains alarmingly relevant.

This is one of those movies where all characters are unpleasant to various degrees, starting from main character Giovanni Alberti, a pathetic man who got into debts to keep up with the Joneses. His wife is shallow and greedy and their "friends" are everything but, a bunch of envious hypocrites who spend their time trying to seduce each other's wives.

After having uselessly asked his "friends" to lend him money (and having been the object of their contempt) Giovanni finds the unlikely solution of his problems in selling one eye to a billionaire. Giovanni is convinced to proceed with the deal by a large amount of money, and the he organises the saddest party in history inviting his "friends" only to be able to spit out all his resentment.

De Sica probably wanted to show how the economic boom of the Sixties corrupted the Italians, and how the only "pure" people were those who didn't care about money, like Giovanni's parents (the only likeable people in the movie). Unfortunately, Italians where probably hypocrites, greedy and nasty even before and haven't changed since. Being Italian myself, I know what I am talking about.

Not a De Sica masterpiece, just a minor, unpleasant film made even more grating by the incongruously cheerful and very dated soundtrack, playing at the worst moment.

Sweet-sour comedy on Italy's 1950's rage to get rich as fast as possible !!The lead actor (Alberto Sordi) plays the part of a psuedo businessman who to satisfy his wife's craving for luxury and a "respectable life" becomes heavily indebted. In desperation he agrees to sell a precious part of his body for a large sum of money.But just before the crucial operation he panics !

The whole film is a grotesque comedy on Italy's obsession of those times to be "respectable" i.e. be rich,show it,and give the impression of being part of the respectable upper-middle class even though "secretly" you are just another of those "noveau riches". The film is very realistic and at times hilarious !Worth to see!

Vittorio De Sica's name will forever be associated with neo-realism, however there are other films in his oeuvre that are worthy entries. "Il Boom" is De Sica's finest contribution to the "Commedia all'Italiana" films which dominated Italian cinema from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s. These comedies were often witty observations of daily life with all its compromises, hypocrisies and struggles.

"Il Boom" is one of the finest entries in the series and one of the blackest. Alberto Sordi plays a husband who is living beyond his means largely thanks to his high-spending wife and due to that need to "Keep up appearances", a vital part of Italian city life. Sordi's character is called on to make a great sacrifice to get out of debt. To reveal more would be to spoil the plot for other viewers.

Well worth hunting down. The great Cesare Zavattini wrote the script (say no more) and the master Vittorio De Sica directs. Fine effort!