09 November 2006

Io sono un autarchico

Nanni Moretti's very first film (1976), shot in 8mm, and yet a masterpiece of Italian cinema. Most films from that period of time have become irremediably obsolete. Not Io sono un autarchico. Moretti's film is both a parody of the 'leftist' films/plays/happenings of the 70s, a self-parody of the Bourgeois extraction of said 'leftists', and a (still very actual) reflection on love, adulthood, parenthood, the kind of 'problems' that befall you when you are a twenty- or thirty-something.

My favourite quote is towards the end of the film. Fabio, the stage manager of the play the protagonists are rehearsing, has finally managed to meet an influential theatre critic.
Marxist theatre critic:
—Perché Lei vuole fare teatro? Per arricchire? Per diventare famoso?
Perché Le interessa questo mezzo espressivo. Comunque Lei farà teatro. Perché quello che si vuol fare a vent'anni lo si fa, nella vita.
Fabio Ghezzi, the stage manager:
—Beh insomma, vent'anni...
Marxist theatre critic:
—Trenta, trentacinque...

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