Fantozzi

Fantozzi is a literary character created by Paolo Villaggio who stars in this film and in all the rest of this franchise. The filmic version of Fantozzi has a much less heavy satire but still very sharp and very enjoyable. Fantozzi is a classic of the Italian Comedy. The first Fantozzi is without any argument the best of the whole franchise.

The Fantozzi saga in Italy is something you can not do without. A lot of quotes are common use in everyday life of people. Paolo Villaggio, who is the author of the original books of Fantozzi, is also the perfect cast for the part, but also all the other characters are outstanding representations of the real life working environment (I personally enjoy very much "Geometra Calboni" interpreted by Giuseppe Anatrelli).

I happened to think, and more then once, that these movies are not to be lost, they are a portrait of Italian life in the 70s and they are an example on how you can laugh (and laugh loud!) with a very low level (especially in the first and second episodes) of vulgarity. I'll take for me VHS or DVD collection to show them to my children's, with the hope that their generation will enjoy them as much as mine.

Ugo Fantozzi, a middle-aged accountant, lives in a poorly furnished apartment with an unloved wife and an ugly daughter. His life is full of failures and disappointments, misfortunes pour down on him like a bucket. However, Fantozzi is not without self-irony and self-esteem.

Despite the absence of an actual plot (the movie is more or less a sequence of sketches), Fantozzi is probably the last hooray of the Italian-style Comedy. Sure, the general tone is much lighter if compared to classic Italian-style Comedies, but nonetheless the fire of a merciless socio-cultural criticism still burns under the see-through veil of the farce.

Accountant Ugo Fantozzi embodies every possible stereotype of your Average middle-class Italian of the 70s. Stuck in a frustrating job, exploited and made fun of by his coworkers, designated victim of his bosses, unhappy and disheartened family man (married to an unbelievably ugly and dull wife, and with a simian daughter), he always seems to draw the shortest straw. No matter what he does, and how hard he tries, Lady Luck will always turn her back on him. Better if after having given him some hope.

But mind you, behind all the improbable situations and the over-the-top comedy stuff, the message is indeed deeper. Everything Fantozzi wishes for is the so-called Italian Dream: after the economical boom of the late 50s, every Italian dreamt about landing a good 9-to-5 job, buying himself a house and a car, living a nice and quiet family life with summer holidays, plenty of hobbies etc. And, should things have gone very well, maybe a mistress too...

Instead, poor Fantozzi is stuck in a rut: he has a second-rate version of all of that... And the more he tries to attain "happiness", the worse it ends.

Clearly, the comedy aspect is prominent, and the movie is also enjoyable for its slapstick comedy, for its sketches and for its caricatural portrait of Italian lower/middle-class. But once the funny parts are an "acquired taste", you can see past it and the sadness of the characters appears, offering a whole new dimension to the movie.

In origin Fantozzi was a literary character, created by Paolo Villaggio himself (who'll star as Fantozzi in all the subsequent movies), and on the written page the social criticism was much heavier. The cinematic version made the satire more enjoyable, probably less sharp, but for sure not less noticeable.

In the end, Fantozzi is a classic of Italian Comedy, and has had a long-lasting impact on Italian language, comedy and society. Every single character, quote and episode is well known in Italy and can easily be "recycled" in everyday's life, even 35 odds years after its original creation.

Had it been "just another silly comedy", it wouldn't had the same impact.

The only real downside of the movie, and of the whole saga, is you have to watch it in Italian, possibly understanding the language to a decent degree. Otherwise many jokes and situations will go over your head

Fantozzi is the first step in a long journey of movie that spanned over almost 3 decades. While the more and more the journey proceed, the authors seems to lose a the inspiration and the grip over the story and the peace of the comedy, the first two movies in this installment are a true masterpiece for the Italian culture. As a guy born in Italy in the early 80' I can understand the background and how this movie was somehow a portrait (of course exasperated) of a certain corporate mentality made of cowardice toward the powers and servile attitudes. All the ridiculous adventure of Mr Fantozzi are indeed a description of a desperate and unsuccessful attempt of a middle class man to rise in the society. There is more than it can be written about the Fantozzi series but something has to be said in advance: I can understand if a for a non-Italian this comedy might not be look particularly fun. It is indeed an Italian phenomenon, hard to explain if you have not the right background. I think also that to really appreciate this movie you should be fluent in Italian because most of the fun is lost in translation.