Il secondo tragico Fantozzi

The second, and arguably the best, entry in the FANTOZZI series is basically more of the same but here the results are even livelier and funnier. It goes without saying that all of the following are better watched and heard than read about and a knowledge of the Italian language is compulsory for fully appreciating this series in particular and most Italian comedies in general but, for what it's worth, here are the highlights of the film under review:

1) A superstitious boss takes Fantozzi to a gambling casino where the latter is mistaken for a homosexual and is subsequently forced by his boss to drink a case of sparkling water which inevitably causes Fantozzi to emit a gargantuan belch

2) The hunt which turns into a veritable battleground (complete with war tanks) and with the hunters eventually shooting on one another

3) The masterstroke of the film is the sequence which shows Fantozzi revolting against a film-fanatic superior of his when the employees are forced to watch Sergei Eisenstein's THE BATTELSHIP POTEMKIN (1925) for the nth time while there is an Italy vs. England football match being shown live on TV at the same time; Fantozzi blows his top and exclaims the immortal phrase: "For me, THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN is crazy s***" which is met by a flurry of applause by his (for once) appreciative colleagues, after which the superior's personal copy of the film is burnt and he is then himself forced to watch for three days running GIOVANNONA LONG-THIGH (1972), THE EXORCIST - Italian STYLE (1975) and a fictitious poliziottesco THE COPS ARE MAD!; the employees' eventual punishment is a weekly re-enactment of the famous Odessa steps sequence from Eisenstein's film with Fantozzi invariably being given the role of the baby in the ill-fated carriage! By the way, another favorite film of the superior to which the employees are often subjected to is Carl Dreyer's DAY OF WRATH (1943)!

4) Fantozzi receives free tickets for a circus performance during a period of sickness but decides to attend just the same highly camouflaged but, of course, he is immediately recognized by a superior of his and so tries to pass himself off as a circus performer with increasingly disastrous results including being fired from a cannon

5) A visit to a brothel with Reder and Anatrelli ends with the former in hospital (suffering the ire of a horde of unpaid taxi drivers) and Fantozzi himself sleeping outside his own flat as a watchdog (while the latter, who has since married Mazzamauro, goes on about his business on the inside with one of the girls they picked up)

6) A disastrous escapade with Mazzamauro shows Fantozzi incompetently performing several extreme physical feats so as to prove to her that he is even better than her husband

7) In the final sequence. Fantozzi goes back to work for the company as a human shield against lightning!

I am not Italian and I have been exposed to Fantozzi only through this movie. I have no idea how the others are or how funny it is when someone doesn't use the proper "congiuntivo". I also cannot understand why a movie that supposedly is one of the finest Italian comedies has only three reviewers. So let's start from there.

Fantozzi is not a nice man. He is just as petty, selfish and insane as the other protagonists. The only thing he is got going for him is that he is the lowest of them. In his tragicomic attempts to upgrade his "level" in the corporate hierarchy, a fake value system that overwhelms everything, including his personal life, he goes further and further down on the scale of human beings. That is why I had a lot of trouble empathizing with the guy (since I am so wonderful, indeed). However that is not the point of the movie and, if I can presume that much, I would say that Fantozzi is not a real character, only a tool in this satire of the northern Italian capitalism of the 70's.

The best American analogy I can think of is Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times, but focused more on the perceived status of each person. Runaway classism where everybody fends for themselves and the owner of the corporation that produces everything and employs everybody is God, Fantozzi's world is funny only through the absurdity of the situation, but mostly tragical because of the reality it satires.

Bottom line: Fantozzi is a piece of Italian culture. Italians laugh at it because they were raised with Fantozzi films. Also some of the language puns and implications are lost on other people. However this film is well done, well acted and has some scenes that are fantastically complex. I can't say that I was terribly amused by it, though, partly because I understood the horrible world it described and that still rears its ugly head in our lives even today and partly because the character is a stupid selfish man with whom I could not really connect. On a more shallow level, though, one can laugh at the absurdity of the situations, brilliantly pushed over the top by the makers.

Ugo Fantozzi (a very average, timid and down-trodden office worker) is the creation of Paolo Villaggio who penned the adventures of Fantozzi based on his own experiences working for a large corporation. These stories were subsequently used as the basis of a number of films about Fantozzi all starring Villaggio.

Paolo Villaggio was a very fine comedian, who created various characters, of which Fantozzi was the best. Villaggio's humour can be best defined as tragi-comedy. Amid the humour, there is tragedy and things rarely end well for Villaggio's heroes.

"Il secondo tragico Fantozzi" was a follow up to the original and it was the peak of the Fantozzi series. There are a number of hilarious and well-choreographed scenes the best of which is the disastrous ship launch.

Film buffs may also enjoy the scenes where employees are repeatedly forced to watch, enjoy and discuss Sergei Eisenstein's immortal "Battleship Potemkin", culminating in the employees being forced to re-enact the Odessa steps massacre, another film high point.

Non Italian-speaking viewers may not grasp the humour as well as Italians as some specific references may not translate well and besides, much of the humour is in Paolo Villaggio's excellent narration, told in his inimitable fatalistic style. If you see a dubbed version, this is especially lost. A sub-titled version may be better, as at least Villaggio's voice will be heard.

A better director and a little more control on plot would have made a better film, but this is indeed still a bellyful of laughs.

Like the first one, this too can be seen in two ways, sad or having fun, not caring about the underlying melancholy. I think these comedies are brilliant for this reason, however this chapter is slightly inferior to the first, badly funny.

This is truly one of the best Italian favorite comedies.

It is too bad these movies have never been released in the States.

Fantozzi movies are pure satire about the work life in a northern Italian corporation in the late 70's. A characteristic of the movie is that Paolo Villaggio/Fantozzi also narrates the events with a unique dramatic tone of voice....must hear to appreciate it!

Ugo Fantozzi is a frustrated accountant of a big old fashioned corporation structured like a royal, divine hierarchy where Fantozzi is at the bottom of it.

Fantozzi at work (and at home)is dis-respected, teased and mocked by his co-workers but he humbly takes all the crap with resignation. He is also doomed by an unbelievable bad luck which is displayed by a stormy cloud over his head. To add to the misfortune, his family life isn't better either. His wife is ugly and his daughter (played by a young man) is even uglier. Fantozzi tries to escape this reality by dreaming romantics randevouz with one of the females co-workers Sig.na Silvani....which of course could care less about him.

All the characters in the movies are really crazy and unique. The "Divine Mega-President" of the corporation is the craziest one of all... he has an aquarium made of "chosen employees" up in his ultra modern office penth-house.

The movies don't have a plot but a series of short comical scenes that show Fantozzi frustrations in the beginning but as the movie goes on, will peak with Fantozzi rebellion to the "corporation's rules" and finally end with Fantozzi defeat and surrender to the corporation's "Creator".

These comedy is very intelligently written and is very original.

A truly enjoyable movie.