The Monsters
With a stature as wide as his smile, a spectacular expressiveness, and a remarkable diction, Vittorio Gassman is one of the greatest actors cinema has ever seen. Capable of embodying a hundred different personas in a single character, switching instantly from comedy to drama, he masterfully embodied the Italian man with flamboyant irony. Simultaneously boastful and tragic, he never shied away from the grotesque side of Italian comedy, while excelling as a classical actor – he who always remained faithful to Theatre.
Winner of the Best Actor award for Vittorio Gassman & Ugo Tognazzi, 1964 Mar del Plata Festival
19 very short stories, each as amoral, sordid, and wicked as the next: starring the ordinary monsters who populated 1960s Italy, with their petty schemes and major flaws, against the backdrop of an economic boom accompanied by brutal changes, outdated institutions, and unscrupulous behaviors. The quintessence of Risi's ferocious comedy, enhanced by the grotesque transformations of Gassman and Tognazzi.
Dino Risi
Dino Risi was an Italian screenwriter and film director. With Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, and Ettore Scola, he was one of the masters of Italian-style comedy. He started his career in cinema as an assistant director to cinema figures such as Mario Soldati and Alberto Lattuada. Later he began directing his own films and was credited with giving early opportunities to future acting stars such as Sophia Loren and Vittorio Gassman. His 1966 film Treasure of San Gennaro won the Silver Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival. His biggest hits were Poor, But Handsome (Poveri ma belli, 1956), followed by two sequels, A Difficult Life (Una vita difficile, 1961) and The Easy Life (Il sorpasso, 1962), The Monsters (I monstri, 1963), and Scent of a Woman (Profumo di donna, 1974). In 2002, he was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice International Film Festival.
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The Easy Life by Dino Risi
Vittorio Gassman, coupable et innocent
S’il a endossé au cours de sa carrière des rôles d’une grande diversité, Vittorio Gassman a particulièrement brillé dans son incarnation outrancière d’une masculinité italienne reflétant les travers et faiblesses d’une société à la croisée des chemins et en perte de repères. Et si sa filmographie est pléthorique, sa collaboration fructueuse avec Dino Risi en demeure la pierre angulaire, terrain de jeu sur mesure pour l’acteur, qui était avant tout un homme de scène et se méfiait du réalisme au cinéma.
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