Pain et chocolat

This film about the struggles of an Italian immigrant in Switzerland generates bizarrely conflicting emotions; indeed at times you don't know whether to laugh or cry! I saw this years ago when I was at university and I expect it has dated in the sense that the status of immigrants has changed a lot since then. It may even be disquieting at times for those who have grown-up believing that they must never laugh at particular social groups, but the film is clearly sympathetic to those whose dignity is compromised daily by their circumstances of life. I defy anyone not to cry with laughter at the restaurant and chicken-coop scenes.

This movie brilliantly and movingly, but always with a lot of irony, describes the plight of an Italian migrant laborer in Switzerland. Some scenes are among the best in the history of cinema.

A group of migrant laborers are doing some filthy work in a ramshackle barn. Through a small window they see some beautiful young Swiss adolescents riding on horse back. These youngsters look like gods compared to the poor ants in the barn!

In another scene the hero of the film has been trying very hard for some time to assimilate, to become even more Swiss then the Swiss themselves. But he can't suppress his deep feelings of identity for ever. One day he enters a pub and watches a soccer match between Italy and Switzerland. At a certain moment he can't control himself any more and starts shouting to encourage the Italian team. He makes such a nuisance of himself that the Swiss throw him out.

Utterly brilliant!

Although a bit too long,"Pane e Cioccolate" features moments of unquestionable brilliance,of sheer genius ,which make him a classic of the Italian cinema any day.

The scenes in the chicken cop are terrific and include idea to rival the best of the Italian cinema of the seventies ,which is saying something.It's so terrific I have to search my memory to find such terrifying scenes as those of the poor wops turning into poultry.And as if it weren't enough,those purple passages are followed by the irruption of posh young people,rich kids,who look like E.T.s .

It's Italian directors' forte to walk a fine line between comedy and drama (the drag act),a thing French movies simply can't achieve ,with a few exceptions.Much more accessible than his stodgy "disordine" ,"pane" is Brusati's (and Manfredi's ) triumph :it's updated Chaplin -the scene when the hero chews his sandwich when elegant ladies are serving cakes and enjoying classical music - An immigrant will always be "tried out" .Everywhere he shows,he will be the perfect loser .

Like this? try these.....

They're a weird mob (Powell,1966) America America (Kazan ,1963) The immigrant (Chaplin,1918)

Great tale about the "joys" of being an immigrant in 70's Switzerland and being rejected from their society for anything other than for labor.

It's all in the title, no connection to the popular "pane e Stella" Italian snack here, rather the bread is a metaphor for the immigrants who have little choice but working abroad to put bread on their families table, while the chocolate refers to the luxury Swiss product and symbolizes that country's wealth. It's bread and chocolate as in rich and poor, as in eating for survival as opposed to eating for pleasure, as in immigrant and swiss, etc.

When this comedy came out in the 70's, it was aptly described as "Chaplinesque". The hero, a coarse Italian immigrant in Switzerland, is as much an Everyman as Chaplin's Tramp. The movie was a hit in the US, winning the NY Critics' Award for Best Foreign Film. Nino Manfredi is funny and touching as the earthy immigrant, the "bread" in the land of refinement ("chocolate"). Anna Karina is stunning as the Greek stowaway who shares some of the same predicament as Manfredi. The "chicken coop" sequence is particularly hilarious. I think this is one movie that deserves to be transformed into a Broadway musical. How about it, Mr. Sondheim?