La maison du sourire

Previous film excursions on the subject of geriatric romance has concentrated on the more ethereal and platonic aspects of the experience. The heartbreakingly beautiful "Make Way for Tomorrow," directed by Leo McCarey, told the story of two aging septuagenarians (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi), whom logistics and economics force out of their home and into living apart. On the last night they will ever spend together, they reenact their honeymoon held decades earlier in New York City. Their final moments together are tender and bittersweet, and the subject of sex never enters the equation.

In "On Golden Pond" Ethel and Norman Thayer (Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda) are being separated by something more insidious than mere economic considerations, Norman's progressive descent into dementia. This will likely be the last summer that they will spend together at their beloved lake cabin and the poignancy of that realization leaves no room for any consideration of the carnal side of their relationship.

Marco Ferreri's highly original "The House of Smiles" explores very different territory. Adelina, a 70 year old former "Miss Smiles" beauty queen and model, is a resident at a senior citizen retirement home. Her 'joie de vie' and unfaded beauty make her an object of attraction to the male residents, especially Andrea, a dapper and charming septuagenarian living there with a wife undergoing treatment for an unspecified illness.

When their initial attraction evolves into physical desire, they try to find places suitable for private rendezvous, but the culture of the institution conspires against them. Their fellow residents, usually preoccupied with food, incontinence, and TV soap operas, are alternately shocked by, envious of, and fascinated with the concept of senior sexuality. Andrea's wife and Adelina's widowed daughter-in-law voice their disdain for the relationship, and the chorus of disapproval is joined by the hospice staff who find their comfortable routines disrupted by the amorous pair, who consistently refuse to conform and act their ages.

Ironically, the transitory community of migrant African workers at the complex provides the couple with sympathy and enables the romance by providing an appropriately named "watermelon" camper, painted pink with black seeds as a clandestine rendezvous.

Unlike the couples in the previous films, Adelina and Andrea do not have a long romantic history to reflect on. Like two adolescents, they are in the first blush of mutual attraction and literally can't keep their eyes... and hands off each other.

Unfortunately the mean-spirited full-time staff decides to cool the inconvenient relationship by cruelly stealing 'The Queen of Smile's dentures, a blow to her pride and self-esteem. The inefficient bureaucracy of national health care moves too slowly to help her and her parsimonious family, the recipients of what's left of her fortune, selfishly refuse to part with any of it to help her. Adelina and Andrea's solutions to their problems are alternately poignant and funny. Will the pair find fulfillment and happiness? The feisty, self-sufficient, and non-conformist Adelina is not someone to give up in the face of adversity, and her optimism makes her a survivor.

A man and woman meet at the hospice they both inhabit, and fall in love... but find their amorous exploits frowned upon by their families, the staff, and even some of their peers. Like MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW and its descendant TOKYO STORY, this movie touches on how we treat our elderly. But it adds an element that neither of those films could address: sexuality. Marco Ferreri (himself in his mid-60's at the time and surely starting to think about these issues) makes a stand for a senior citizen's right to intimacy, privacy, dignity and vanity. It's a warm and funny film, done with great sensitivity and sharp humor. Occasionally the comedy gets a little broad, but I loved touches like the contrast provided by the silly, lurid soap opera on the television. Ingrid Thulin (in her final on screen role, and what an inspired bit of casting) and Dado Ruspoli make a charming couple, Thulin especially is an absolute joy to watch. I also loved the African immigrants who provide our protagonists with their only safe haven. And such a bittersweet melancholy to the ending. Another win for Ferreri.

The movie is about a woman who reached the age when she's supposed to behave like a grandma, but she doesn't want to give up on her identity yet, mainly because of her sexuality still thriving.

The movie is very Felliniesque, from the setting to the weird characters and the surreal shenanigans that happen on screen. Unfortunately I prefer the more grounded Fellini, therefore this is not a compliment, actually I didn't particularly enjoy the movie. It was disjointed enough to compromise my interest and in the long run I got bored.

The only things I was able to salvage from the film are the creativity of the director and some thinking about how we treat the elderly of many freedoms for our own ease.

One of Marco Ferreri's movies from later in his career focuses on a woman in a retirement home and her new relationship. Protagonist Adelina (Ingrid Thulin) hooks up with a man whose wife is undergoing treatment. Many of Adelina's acquaintances don't approve of her relationship, to the point that someone steals her dentures. This sets in motion a whole new series of events.

What I found to be a really interesting part of "La casa del sorriso" ("The House of Smiles" in English) was the African music. The African immigrants brought a most unexpected dimension to a movie with a seemingly routine story. But anyway, I've liked every one of Marco Ferreri's movies that I've seen, and I recommend this one.