The Great War
A director as prolific as he was sophisticated, Mario Monicelli was the epitome of the famous "Italian comedy", which he embodied with remarkable style and freedom of tone. With a humor that was both biting and generous, he tackled the worries, paradoxes and shortcomings of ordinary Italians. He worked with the great names of Italian comedy (Totò, Alberto Sordi, Ugo Tognazzi) and launched the careers of immense actors (Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni). This fourteen-film program takes us through a filmography spanning more than five decades: from the post-war films he co-directed with Steno to the last period of his career (the gritty Christmas film Parenti Serpenti), from masterpieces (Le pigeon, the inaugural masterpiece of the "Italian comedy") to true rarities (Proibito, his only drama).
Winner of the Golden Lion at the 1959 Venice Film Festival
Two of Monicelli's favorite actors, Alberto Sordi and Vittorio Gassman, play Giovanni and Oreste, two soldiers mobilized during the First World War. Realizing the atrocity of the trenches, they want to flee, but nothing is so easy in wartime.
Mario Monicelli
Mario Alberto Ettore Monicelli (16 May 1915 – 29 November 2010) was an Italian film director and screenwriter and one of the masters of the Commedia all'Italiana (Comedy Italian style). He was nominated six times for an Oscar, and was awarded the Golden Lion for his career.
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Mario Monicelli, clowns tristes et tristes clowns
Monicelli a joué un rôle prépondérant dans l’avènement de la « comédie à l’italienne », ce genre populaire et sémillant dont le succès a dépassé les frontières de son pays. Il lui a donné un véritable style, tirant la farce vers la satire et mêlant avec subtilité l’héritage de la commedia dell’arte à un regard ironique et parfois sombre sur la société.
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