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An entrepreneur, a self-made man. A rich life, a beautiful wife whom you love and who loves you in return, a woman who thanks to you can afford not to work and to cultivate her passion for art. A beautiful house, a boat, a group of sincere friends who esteem you. A beloved father who is slowly fading away in a luxury nursing home. A foreign maid whom you pay without exploiting, and whom you respect because you are a decent man, an enlightened capitalist.
Some worries, of course, who doesn't have them? A rebellious and somewhat bratty daughter who has decided to be 'alternative' at all costs, who doesn't think twice about spitting on money and all the sacrifices made by her parents, stubbornly dating guys who are not right for her, who could have so much more and so much better.
Then, like a bolt from the blue... Everything changes. Your partners turn their backs on you, ousting you from the company. And you, being a proud man, leave slamming the door behind, finding yourself effectively on the street. Goodbye luxury restaurants, goodbye exotic travels. Most friends disappear, and the few who want to stay by your side you start avoiding, because you begin to feel ashamed... Like in a nightmare, you are bombarded with bills to settle, payments to make, the extra hundred euros to scrape together somehow, or you won't make it to the end of the month. The desire that all this is just a horrible dream, the urge not to get up in the morning anymore, wondering what you’ll do to make it through the day, when your wife comes home dead tired from the call center, or from an unpleasant and poorly-paid secretarial job.
And whose fault is it? Can you blame yourself? No. The world? It's useless. And so, you begin to blame the people closest to you, the ones you love. That brat of a wife of yours who acts so superior now that she works and demands to keep the household running. And your wife blames you, spineless and lazy, who can no longer find even a shred of work, spending days painting neighbors' houses and crushing plastic bottles. And how long do you think she will resist the advances of her boss, a charming and understanding man who might be capable of rescuing her from the mess you've put her in?
And when you truly hit rock bottom, when you look in the mirror and see a stranger... Who comforts you, who extends a hand? The unsuspected ones. The humblest among your former workers. Your daughter's boyfriend, the one who wasn't right for her, and while you judged and judged, the two of them opened a restaurant that's doing quite well, they are happy and are doing much better than you.
A Dantean descent into a hell made of humble homes, with thin walls and neighbors arguing and listening to TV at unbearable volumes, of cars breaking down without the money to repair them. It's finding yourself side by side with people whom until recently you looked at with disdain, judging them inferior. And it's a true hell, even if some might argue that there are worse things in life - but these two have lost a status. There's nothing more humiliating for a man than losing a privilege: losing a right is terrible, but losing a privilege is unbearable.
It's not a complete Dantean journey, but at least we witness the exit from hell, and a presumed entry into a long, arduous purgatory: at least "we come forth to rebehold the stars." And looking at the metaphorical sky of a beautiful frescoed ceiling, the film concludes, with husband and wife finally hand in hand after so much suffering.
Excellent performances by both Margherita Buy and Antonio Albanese in a state of grace, using not only his face but his entire body as an instrument finely tuned with skill and passion. A round of applause also for Alba Caterina Rohrwacher, who convincingly portrays a complex yet vivid relationship with father-Albanese. Recommended film.
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