Daniele Costantini
Amore Che Vieni Amore Che Vai

Taken from "Un destino ridicolo," a novel released in '96 and written by none other than Fabrizio de André and Alessandro Gennari, Daniele Costantini's film made its appearance in theaters in November 2008. Presented in reviews and articles by many esteemed newspapers as a dramatic film, the movie risks ending up squarely in the comedic-trash category.

The film starts off quite well, narrating the story of Carlo, a young Genoese servant, who improvises himself as the "pimp" of three prostitutes left without one, and falls hopelessly in love with a Florentine girl named Maritza. Carlo also gets his mother involved in the work, who is very happy to collect the money, and in the meantime, he meets Bernard, a French "classy" criminal who enlists him in a heist alongside Salvatore, a Sardinian shepherd who ended up in Genoa to start a new life away from his dark past. The three organize the heist despite their clashes—Salvatore, in fact, intends to redeem one of Carlo's prostitutes with whom he has become infatuated—and they almost complete it.

The film starts off quite well, yes, but soon you realize that something isn't right. If at the beginning one is moved by Carlo's clumsiness, after a while it becomes sickening and towards the end, it's flaunted near the edge of ridiculousness. The scenes follow each other increasingly resembling comedic sketches, especially those in which Bernard, the stereotype of the old sly fox who knows it all and always with a grin on his face, and Salvatore, the stereotype of the expressionless Sardinian shepherd, tough and a lover of the land as the most precious asset, appear. In fact, the latter is truly expressionless, more a caricature than an interpretation, which goes for the others too, and the trio dangerously reminds one of Aldo Giovanni e Giacomo (!).

The acting is mediocre, especially in the case of Carlo's mother, excessive, theatrical, ridiculous, but all the characters leave much to be desired, and the best on scene seems to be Tosca d'Aquino, who at least is comfortable with her Neapolitan accent. The dialects, indeed, are mangled: Carlo, from Genoa, has a Lucanian accent; Bernard the Marseillais speaks Roman and Maritza is quite far from Florentine.

The two de André quotes are dreadful: if the song "Amore che vieni, amore che vai" appears out of place in such a grotesque context, the line with which Bernard addresses Carlo halfway through the film is revolting. Carlo: "I have a plan in mind." Bernard: "I know your plan. It has two nice tits and a rose mouth."

In conclusion, it's a film that perhaps intended to start seriously but ended up in an amalgam of bad acting, uncertain direction, and low-quality comedy that definitely doesn't deserve the dramatic definition. But it's especially Faber who didn't deserve to be treated as bait, and with him, the protagonists of those songs that made us cry.