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Rating: "Me dispiace… Ma io so’ io, e voi nun siete un cazzo"
The Marchese del Grillo by Sordi and Monicelli is especially appreciated for its dialogues and memorable jokes (of which the opening phrase is the most famous example). But this film is much more than a sharp screenplay. In fact, beneath a thoroughly respectable comic vein, Monicelli hides a portrait of Italy of then and now, starting from a decisive turning point: the clash between the old and the new, embodied respectively by the Rome of the “Pope King” and Napoleon's French army. A clash that in 2009, after two exact centuries, seems more relevant and unresolved than ever.
Marchese Onofrio del Grillo (Sordi) is a noble representative of papal Rome. The family, with its paradoxical characters, is a fierce caricature of the nobility, depicted in its ridiculous occupations: Camilla and her pestilential breath; uncle Terenzio and his ancestor to be beatified; Don Sabino and the 'impure acts' of little Pompeo; above all stands the old Marchesa, the head of the household, embodying conservative demands. Of course, the sworn enemies are the French and their theater, «where female roles are even played by real women!». Around the family and Marchese, at the cries of «he’s awake!» and «he’s asleep!», moves the army of servants. Even more pitiless caricatures are represented by the Pope's Noble Guard (Paolo Stoppa), a militia of mummies with wrinkled and decrepit faces. The Marchese is younger but no more useful: in fact, he misses no opportunity to ignore his duties and turn to gambling, women, and pranks, accompanied by the loyal Ricciotto (Giorgio Gobbi) among the “worst scoundrels of Rome”.
The confrontation between the old and the new comes to life in a walk with Blanchard, a French soldier, who talks to him about the war, Napoleon, and the Marseillaise. The Marchese seems intrigued by the “gust of new air” from France, but not enough to question the old system, of which he is a beneficiary:
«Certainly you go into battle, with an anthem like that... We have We Want God, where are we going?»
«Yes, but to have an anthem like that you need to behead all Marchese del Grillo like you…»
«Yes? Then I’ll keep We Want God!»
The contrast becomes even sharper when the two encounter bandits and a witch. «Here you are still in the Middle Ages», Blanchard comments amusedly, «with magicians, bandits…». And here the Marchese suddenly regains his dignity, justifying himself by explaining how difficult it is to be born into a conservative family like his.
«My father used to tell me to study and pray... my mother not even that... just pray»
This led him first to vent in reading and then in pranks.
«Because, in Rome what do you want to do? What's there... Domes, roofs, cats, beggars…»
Among the many pranks of the Marchese, two are particularly noteworthy: that of the Jewish carpenter Aronne Piperno, where Onofrio bribes half of the Vatican just to be able to say that «justice is dead»; and that of Gasperino, «a poor coal worker just like me» who will be replaced by the Marchese, causing the relatives' dismay and giving a lesson in equality. Words like justice and equality seem somewhat anachronistic in the mouth of the Marchese, who indeed at times seems like a ventriloquist's puppet, a playboy with an ideologized script. This also explains the attack on Italian artists:
«If they take away a bit of sheep with an aqueduct, a half-naked boy with a reed in his mouth, or two oxen at sunset, you are well and truly finished!». A futurist message that seems as relevant and urgent in 2009 as in 1809. Now that I think about it, Marinetti's manifesto is from 1909. Could it be that every hundred years we realize what kind of country we are? The old Marchesa is right: abroad there is Napoleon, who sooner or later ends up with his ass on the ground... While Italy is always the same because «when one pope dies, another is always made».Loading comments slowly
