Review by paul2001sw-1

Giovanni Agnelli was suave, intelligent, and very, very rich. He inherited sole control of the giant FIAT corporation; and for a time, perhaps, embodied a certain ideal of the Italian elite. This documentary gives an account of his life, which sadly is extremely hagiographic, and which invites one to gasp in awe at his charm and ability while never questioning the shape of a world in which one man can possess all this stuff by right of birth. Indeed, at some times the film fades into absurdity: when his new wife wrongly thought she had married into a life of ease, Agnelli had her packed off the learn the job of hostess from an old family friend who just happened to own one of the most celebrated palazzi in Venice; time and time again the film presents similar actions as if the main reason the rest of use could not do something similar is because we lack Agnelli's brilliance, not because we lack his connections and money. It's a shame, because Agnelli clearly was a smart guy, and it would have been interesting to hear him talk some more, but without confusing "the smartest and most charming billionaire on the planet" with "the smartest and most charming guy in the world".