The Dinner

Only 12 votes before mine? How could it be? Well, the movie is really one of the best I've ever seen. Scola directs his actors just like a great orchestra, keeping the action always in the same place, and following it almost in real time (I mean, 2 hours of movie to describe 2 hours in the life of the characters). So the film make you see an evening in the life of different people (with their stories, their problems, their loves), that have nothing in common one with each other but the place they're in, a restaurant. And all this is shown with a look that's funny and sad at the same time. A great construction of the director, supported by a gorgeous cast!

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.

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.

I was amazed after the very five minutes. this is not the kind of movie for people who don't care about others or those who are selfish and self-centered I'm sure that people would hate this piece of art, you'll see a whole world inside of few lives. the wise, the magic in every character, some jokes, problems, lies, some fantasy... its just hard to describe. I was eating popcorn and thinking when finally that waiter will take my order. if you have a child's-like imagination, or just you were in some hide small family "restorante" in Italia you'll maybe lived this movie. its perfect for those days when you feel like the world sucks

9.8/10

I gave 1 to this film. I can't understand how Ettore Scola,one of the greater directors of Italian cinema, made a film like this, so stupid and ridiculous! All the stories of the people involved in the movie are unsubstantial,boring and not interesting. Too long,too boring. The only things I save in this movie are Giancarlo Giannini and Vittorio Gasmann. Hope that Scola will change radically themes and style in his next film.