Herbert Ross
California Suite

Reading a pleasant review a week ago made me reflect on something that seems trivial at first glance. The result is this brief piece describing an enjoyable, not essential, work—one that didn’t go down in history but that, in my opinion, still deserves ten minutes of both my time and yours.

We spend much of our existence storing “extreme” memories. Whether it’s a film, a record, a book, a holiday, or a sporting event, we celebrate and remember it only if it left us with a strong emotion, positive or negative. It’s understandable, of course, but by doing so we risk missing out on savoring normality, which actually makes up the biggest part of our lives. We spend our days making lists — top 100, top 10, top 5 — falling in line and ultimately losing the infinite range of colors in the everyday, focusing only on the beautiful, the amazing, the ugly, the terrible.

Herbert Ross, who has made history with “Play It Again, Sam” and is remembered by the general public for the global success of the glossy “Footloose”, directed in 1978 a dazzling cast featuring, among others, Jane Fonda, Alan Alda, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Bill Cosby, and Walter Matthau, creating a film in the classic ensemble episode format set in closed environments. The screenplay, by Neil Simon, tells the story of five couples who — for various reasons — find themselves at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Oscar night.

Personally, I preferred two episodes above all others. The one with Jane Fonda and Alan Alda, playing a divorced couple discussing custody of their daughter, features razor-sharp dialogue with an irresistible, sarcastic tone. Their level of acting is very high and manages to give rhythm and intensity, reaching some remarkable moments. The development of the episode is also interesting: after a lively start, it shifts pace and tone, with the soundtrack accompanying the story toward an increasingly dominant melancholic tone that Fonda conveys beautifully in the extremely touching goodbye scene.

The other episode that stands out is even more caustic and is steeped to the core in British humor, thanks to the back-and-forth of a weary, snobbish couple masterfully played by Michael Caine and Maggie Smith, sumptuous in her seemingly icy composure. He is an opportunistic gay husband; she, a famous stage actress who bade farewell to the theater for film out of cold financial calculation, despite utterly despising the ignorant scene. Here too, a veil of melancholy wraps around the story, enriching it like a pinch of salt on a well-made dessert.

The episodes starring Bill Cosby (two couples intertwined in the same story) and Walter Matthau didn’t strike me in the same way: pleasant and well-acted, yes, but far too predictable and caricatured in their obvious development. Still, they manage to elicit some laughter and remain enjoyable.

Overall, as I mentioned at the start, I consider “California Suite” a work that, even if it doesn’t belong among the best of the last century, deserves to be watched and appreciated. However, it runs the risk of being underestimated by most. We often tend to dismiss “good” and in some ways normal works like this because we prefer to rewatch for the umpteenth time a “classic” film we know by heart and that, even if we don’t admit it, no longer moves us.

Nota: per questo ruolo Maggie Smith vinse l’Oscar come miglior attrice non protagonista nel 1979.