Le dîner

Once again Scola manages to produce high quality cinema, needing for it no more than a good cast of actors and his magistral talent. Rather than the usual Hollywood menu of vulgarity, violence and sex, "La Cena" manages to present in its less that 2 hours, a wide array of dramas in the course of a single dinner evening in a common restaurant. At each table the guests will be immersed in a particular drama (mother vs. daughter, old professor with young student lover, etc.) which are autonomous in themselves but that seem to be part of a larger script. That is achieved thanks to the masterful camera movement that weaves itself among the tables and connects all the independent dramas offering us an orchestrated picture of the restaurant's whole microcosm. Well worth seeing.

Clearly it is an adaptation of Plato's The Symposium in which the Greek philosopher discusses about Love. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symposium_%28Plato_dialogue%29 Ettore Scola was great by transposing the Greeks' feasts to an Italian restaurant, simply great! Some people may be offended by gay directions, but it is Plato's position: the greatest love possible is between the master and his pupil. That explains the sweet erotic scene of the two guys at the end of the film. "The purpose of this was so that, when a man embraced a woman, he would cast his seed and they would have children; but when male embraced male, they would at least have the satisfaction of intercourse, after which they could stop embracing, return to their jobs, and look after their other needs in life." Symposium, 191c-d The film also shows other forms of Love like: mom and son, friends, man and woman... and all of them some problem shows up. And what really matters is to love rather than being loved.

This film is no small feat, by most criteria. There is not one scene, one piece of dialogue that doesn't work perfectly in its own right and in relation to the broader context of the movie. All characters are solidly conceived and utterly believable, and the flawless, well-measured acting of the WHOLE cast render them authentic and charismatic.

Depicting simply a night at a traditional Italian restaurant, the movie doesn't have a major unifying plot. It never needed one in the first place. The situations particular to each group of characters, to each table, are more than enough to keep the audience following the action flow through the place. The viewer's attention is held at peak throughout the whole movie, from beginning to end, which is a very rare and amazing achievement for any film. Even more amazing a feat it is for a movie which happens in one single place, with no more than a restaurant's few facilities for the action to spread.

As a whole, 'La Cena' showcases an intriguing and thoughtful, yet pleasant rendition of people's dilemmas, joys and relationships, contrary to the perception that "art" movies are tiresome, intellectual, self-indulgent exercises. This film potraits the beauty and poetry of life and human nature (corny, but nonetheless true), as masterfully as few but the European cinema masters can. A great example of the Italian tradition of moviemaking, ten out of ten, no doubt about it.

And on top of everything else, aren't there ugly, charmless women in Italy? Madonna mia!

It's one of the best movies I have ever seen! Impressive! What can someone do with a small budget but with great imagination. The hole action is flowing naturally.

I gave 1 to this film. I can't understand how Ettore Scola,one of the greater directors of Italian cinema, made a film like this, so stupid and ridiculous! All the stories of the people involved in the movie are unsubstantial,boring and not interesting. Too long,too boring. The only things I save in this movie are Giancarlo Giannini and Vittorio Gasmann. Hope that Scola will change radically themes and style in his next film.