Human Capital (2013 film)

Human Capital
Human Capital
	Film poster
	Il capitale umano
Directed by	Paolo Virzì
Written by	Paolo Virzì ; Francesco Piccolo ; Francesco Bruni ; Stephen Amidon (novel)
Produced by	Fabrizio Donvito, Marco Cohen, Benedetto Habib
Starring	Valeria Bruni Tedeschi ; Fabrizio Bentivoglio ; Valeria Golino ; Fabrizio Gifuni ; Luigi Lo Cascio ; Giovanni Anzaldo; Matilde Gioli ; Guglielmo Pinelli; Gigio Alberti ; Bebo Storti;
Cinematography	Jérôme Alméras
Edited by	Cecilia Zanuso
Music by	Carlo Virzì
Production; companies	Indiana Production Company, coproduced by Rai Cinema and Manny Films
Release date	3 December 2013(Giornate professionali di cinema Sorrento);
Running time	109 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

Last updated June 13, 2025

Human Capital (Italian : Il capitale umano) is a 2013 Italian thriller film directed by Paolo Virzì.^[1] The film is based on the American novel Human Capital by Stephen Amidon.^[2] For her performance in the film, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi was awarded Best Actress at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.^[3] It was selected as the Italian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.^[4]

Plot summary

The film is set in a town in Brianza and in Milan. On Christmas Eve, a waiter cycling home from working at a prestigious private school gala is hit by a car. The driver flees, leaving the waiter lying in the street badly injured. The waiter is hospitalized and close to death. The next day, two well-known families' lives are connected by the incident.

Filming locations

Even though the story is set in a town in Brianza, most of the urban scenes were filmed in February 2013 in the cities of Varese. Principal photography began on 18 February 2013 and lasted eight weeks. ^[5] and Como, in the countryside of Osnago in the Province of Lecco and in Arese for the villa with the swimming pool.^[6] The beautiful villa of the Bernaschi Family is located in Fortunago, a medieval village in the Province of Pavia.^[7]

Cast

Fabrizio Bentivoglio: Dino Ossola
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi: Carla Bernaschi
Fabrizio Gifuni: Giovanni Bernaschi
Valeria Golino: Roberta Morelli
Matilde Gioli: Serena Ossola
Guglielmo Pinelli: Massimiliano Bernaschi
Luigi Lo Cascio: Donato Russomanno
Giovanni Anzaldo (it): Luca
Gigio Alberti: Giampi
Bebo Storti: Inspector
Michael Sart: Jean Louis, Bernaschi's assistant
Silvia Cohen: Adriana Crosetti
Gianluca Di Lauro: Fabrizio, the cyclist
Paolo Pierobon, Luca's uncle

^[8]

Reception

Critical response

Human Capital holds an 81% rating and a weighted average of 6.8/10 on Rotten Tomatoes based on 68 reviews, with the consensus being, "Part character study, part socioeconomic fable, Human Capital offers trenchant commentary as well as absorbing drama."^[9] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 19 critics.^[10]

Awards and nominations

Awards
Award	Category	Recipients and nominees	Result
69th Silver Ribbon Awards ^[11]	Best Director	Paolo Virzì	Won
	Best Producer	Indiana Production, Rai Cinema and Motorino Amaranto	Nominated
	Best Screenplay	Francesco Bruni, Francesco Piccolo & Paolo Virzì	Won
	Best Actor	Fabrizio Bentivoglio e Fabrizio Gifuni	Won
	Best Actress	Valeria Bruni Tedeschi	Nominated
	Best Scenography	Mauro Radaelli	Won
	Best Editing	Cecilia Zanuso	Won
	Best Sound	Roberto Mozzarelli	Won
	Guglielmo Biraghi Award	Matilde Gioli	Won
59th David di Donatello Awards ^[12]	Best Film	Paolo Virzì	Won
	Best Director	Paolo Virzì	Nominated
	Best Script	Francesco Bruni, Francesco Piccolo & Paolo Virzì	Won
	Best Producer	Indiana Production Rai Cinema and Motorino Amaranto	Nominated
	Best Actor	Fabrizio Bentivoglio	Nominated
	Best Actress	Valeria Bruni Tedeschi	Won
	Best Supporting Actor	Fabrizio Gifuni	Won
	Best Supporting Actress	Valeria Golino	Won
	Best Cinematography	Jérôme Almèras	Nominated
	Best Production Design	Mauro Radaelli	Nominated
	Best Costumes	Bettina Pontiggia	Nominated
	Best Make-up	Caroline Philipponnat	Nominated
	Best Hairstyling	Stéphane Desmarez	Nominated
	Best Editing	Cecilia Zanuso	Won
	Best Sound	Roberto Mozzarelli	Won
	Best Score	Carlo Virzì	Nominated
	Best Song	Giacomo Vaccai e Jackie O'S Farm	Nominated
	Best Special Effects	Effetti Digitali Italiani (eng: Italian Digital Effects)	Nominated
	Youngs' David	Paolo Virzì	Nominated
54th Globi d'oro	Best Film	Paolo Virzì	Won
	Best Script	Paolo Virzì, Francesco Bruni, Francesco Piccolo	Nominated
	Best Actor	Fabrizio Bentivoglio	Nominated
50th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ^[13]	Crystal Globe	Paolo Virzì	Nominated
50th Chicago International Film Festival ^[14]^[15]	Gold Hugo for Best International Feature	Paolo Virzì	Nominated
50th Chicago International Film Festival ^[14]^[15]	Gold Plaque for Best Art Direction	Mauro Radaelli	Won
41st Flaiano International Prizes ^[16]	Golden Pegasus Award for Best Director	Paolo Virzì	Won
37th Denver Film Festival ^[17]^[18]	Krzysztof Kieslowski Award for Best Feature	Paolo Virzì	Nominated
34th Hawaii International Film Festival ^[19]^[20]	EuroCinema Hawai'i Award	Paolo Virzì	Nominated
34th Hawaii International Film Festival ^[19]^[20]	EuroCinema Hawai'i Best Actress Award	Valeria Bruni Tedeschi	Won
29th Ciak d'oro ^[21]	Best Director	Paolo Virzì	Won
	Best Actress	Valeria Bruni Tedeschi	Won
	Best Supporting Actor	Fabrizio Gifuni	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress	Matilde Gioli	Nominated
	Best Costumes	Bettina Pontiggia	Nominated
	Best Screenwriter	Francesco Bruni, Francesco Piccolo and Paolo Virzì	Won
	Best Sound	Roberto Mozzarelli, Emanuele Chiappa and Alessandro Orlando	Nominated
	Best Editing	Cecilia Zanuso	Won
	Best Music	Carlo Virzì	Nominated
	Best Movie Poster	Riccardo Fidenzi and Maurizio Rubens	Nominated
27th European Film Awards ^[22]	Best Director	Paolo Virzì	Nominated
27th European Film Awards ^[22]	Best Actress	Valeria Bruni Tedeschi	Nominated
25th Stockholm International Film Festival ^[23]	Open Zone Award	Paolo Virzì	Nominated
23rd St. Louis International Film Festival ^[24]^[25]	Best International Film	Paolo Virzì	Nominated
23rd St. Louis International Film Festival ^[24]^[25]	St. Louis Film Critics' Joe Pollack Best Feature Award	Paolo Virzì	Won
22nd Raindance Film Festival ^[26]	Best International Feature	Paolo Virzì	Nominated
15th Ghent International Film Festival ^[27]	Canvas Audience Award	Paolo Virzì	Won
12th Tribeca Film Festival ^[3]	Best Actress	Valeria Bruni Tedeschi	Won
12th Tribeca Film Festival ^[3]	Best Narrative Feature	Paolo Virzì	Nominated
4th Ischia Global Film & Music Festival ^[28]	Ischia Italian Movie Award	Paolo Virzì, Fabrizio Donvito, Benedetto Habib and Marco Cohen	Won
4th Ischia Global Film & Music Festival ^[28]	Ischia Italian Director Award	Paolo Virzì	Won

References

↑ Jay Weissberg (14 April 2014). "Tribeca Film Review: 'Human Capital'". Variety . Retrieved 25 April 2014.
↑ Charles, Ron (9 April 2014). "Film version of Stephen Amidon's 'Human Capital' a hit in Italy". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
1 2 Gordon Cox (24 April 2014). "Tribeca Film Festival: Israeli Film 'Zero Motivation' Scores Two Awards". Variety . Retrieved 25 April 2014.
↑ "Oscars: Italy Selects 'Human Capital' for Foreign-Language Category". Hollywood Reporter. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
↑ "Virzì svela il "Capitale Umano" E Varese è subito protagonista". La Provincia di Varese. Varese. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
↑ ""Il capitale umano", Virzì mette a nudo l'élite: "Ecco gli italiani schiavi del denaro"". Repubblica. Milan. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
↑ "A Fortunago le riprese del nuovo film di Virzì". 4 March 2013.
↑ "Stasera in tv: "Il capitale umano" su Rai 3". Cineblog.it. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
↑ Human Capital at Rotten Tomatoes
↑ "Human Capital". Metacritic .
↑ "Nastri d'argento 2013 | vincitori". cineblog.it. 6 July 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "David di Donatello 2014, i vincitori: miglior film Il capitale umano | Panorama". cultura.panorama.it. Archived from the original on 14 June 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | Human Capital". kviff.com. Archived from the original on 24 November 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ /http://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/festival/2014-schedule/film/?id=65 Archived 6 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
↑ ""The President" wins top prize at Chicago film festival - Chicago Tribune". chicagotribune.com. 17 October 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "Premi Flaiano: tutti i Pegaso D'Oro della 41a edizione - Il Fatto Quotidiano". ilfattoquotidiano.it. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "Contemporary World Cinema : Film Programs for 2014 Starz Denver Film Festival". denverfilm.org. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "Denver Film Festival: 3 films worth seeing each day | FOX31 Denver". kdvr.com. 15 November 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "Film Listing - 2014 HIFF Fall Festival". program.hiff.org. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "Rising Star Brenton ThwaitesHonolulu Pulse – Hawaii Entertainment, Food and Nightlife". honolulupulse.com. Archived from the original on 3 June 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "Ciak d'oro 2014, a La Grande Bellezza otto premi. Paolo Virzì miglior regista - Il Fatto Quotidiano". ilfattoquotidiano.it. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "European Film Academy : THE 26th EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS: WINNERS". europeanfilmacademy.org. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "Quattro film italiani allo Stockholm International Film Festival 2014 - CinemaItaliano.info". cinemaitaliano.info. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "12 movies to see this weekend at the St. Louis Film Festival : Entertainment". stltoday.com. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "Awards | www.cinemastlouis.org". cinemastlouis.org. Archived from the original on 24 November 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "Human Capital | Raindance Film Festival Raindance Film Festival". raindancefestival.org. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "Il capitale umano - Awards - IMDb". imdb.com. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
↑ "Ischia Global Award | Paolo Virzì e Marc Webb registi dell'anno". supergacinema.it. Archived from the original on 18 September 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

External links

Human Capital at IMDb

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
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[1] Jay Weissberg (14 April 2014). "Tribeca Film Review: 'Human Capital'". Variety . Retrieved 25 April 2014.

[2] Charles, Ron (9 April 2014). "Film version of Stephen Amidon's 'Human Capital' a hit in Italy". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 May 2014.

[Gordon_Cox-3] 1 2 Gordon Cox (24 April 2014). "Tribeca Film Festival: Israeli Film 'Zero Motivation' Scores Two Awards". Variety . Retrieved 25 April 2014.

[Italy-4] "Oscars: Italy Selects 'Human Capital' for Foreign-Language Category". Hollywood Reporter. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2014.

[5] "Virzì svela il "Capitale Umano" E Varese è subito protagonista". La Provincia di Varese. Varese. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2015.

[6] ""Il capitale umano", Virzì mette a nudo l'élite: "Ecco gli italiani schiavi del denaro"". Repubblica. Milan. Retrieved 17 June 2015.

[7] "A Fortunago le riprese del nuovo film di Virzì". 4 March 2013.

[8] "Stasera in tv: "Il capitale umano" su Rai 3". Cineblog.it. Retrieved 3 February 2017.

[9] Human Capital at Rotten Tomatoes

[10] "Human Capital". Metacritic .

[cineblog-11] "Nastri d'argento 2013 | vincitori". cineblog.it. 6 July 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[panorama-12] "David di Donatello 2014, i vincitori: miglior film Il capitale umano | Panorama". cultura.panorama.it. Archived from the original on 14 June 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[kviff-13] "Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | Human Capital". kviff.com. Archived from the original on 24 November 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[14] /http://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/festival/2014-schedule/film/?id=65 Archived 6 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine

[chicagotribune-15] ""The President" wins top prize at Chicago film festival - Chicago Tribune". chicagotribune.com. 17 October 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[ilfattoquotidiano-16] "Premi Flaiano: tutti i Pegaso D'Oro della 41a edizione - Il Fatto Quotidiano". ilfattoquotidiano.it. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[denverfilm-17] "Contemporary World Cinema : Film Programs for 2014 Starz Denver Film Festival". denverfilm.org. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[kdvr-18] "Denver Film Festival: 3 films worth seeing each day | FOX31 Denver". kdvr.com. 15 November 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[hiff-19] "Film Listing - 2014 HIFF Fall Festival". program.hiff.org. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[honolulupulse-20] "Rising Star Brenton ThwaitesHonolulu Pulse – Hawaii Entertainment, Food and Nightlife". honolulupulse.com. Archived from the original on 3 June 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[ilfattoquotidiano2-21] "Ciak d'oro 2014, a La Grande Bellezza otto premi. Paolo Virzì miglior regista - Il Fatto Quotidiano". ilfattoquotidiano.it. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[europeanfilmacademy-22] "European Film Academy : THE 26th EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS: WINNERS". europeanfilmacademy.org. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[cinemaitaliano-23] "Quattro film italiani allo Stockholm International Film Festival 2014 - CinemaItaliano.info". cinemaitaliano.info. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[stltoday-24] "12 movies to see this weekend at the St. Louis Film Festival : Entertainment". stltoday.com. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[cinemastlouis-25] "Awards | www.cinemastlouis.org". cinemastlouis.org. Archived from the original on 24 November 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[raindancefestival-26] "Human Capital | Raindance Film Festival Raindance Film Festival". raindancefestival.org. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[imdb-27] "Il capitale umano - Awards - IMDb". imdb.com. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

[supergacinema-28] "Ischia Global Award | Paolo Virzì e Marc Webb registi dell'anno". supergacinema.it. Archived from the original on 18 September 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.

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v t e Italian submissions for Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
1947–1960	Shoeshine (1947) Bicycle Thieves (1949) The Walls of Malapaga (1950) La Strada (1956) Nights of Cabiria (1957) Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958) The Great War (1959) Kapo (1960)
1961–1980	La Notte (1961) The Four Days of Naples (1962) 8½ (1963) Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1964) Marriage Italian Style (1965) The Battle of Algiers (1966) China Is Near (1967) The Girl with the Pistol (1968) Fellini Satyricon (1969) Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971) Roma (1972) Amarcord (1974) Scent of a Woman (1975) Seven Beauties (1976) A Special Day (1977) I nuovi mostri (1978) To Forget Venice (1979) A Leap in the Dark (1980)
1981–2000	Three Brothers (1981) The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982) And the Ship Sails On (1983) Where's Picone? (1984) Macaroni (1985) Summer Night (1986) The Family (1987) The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1988) Cinema Paradiso (1989) Open Doors (1990) Mediterraneo (1991) The Stolen Children (1992) The Great Pumpkin (1993) Lamerica (1994) The Star Maker (1995) My Generation (1996) The Best Man (1997) Life Is Beautiful (1998) Not of this World (1999) One Hundred Steps (2000)
2001–2020	The Son's Room (2001) Pinocchio (2002) I'm Not Scared (2003) The Keys to the House (2004) Don't Tell (2005) Golden Door (2006) The Unknown Woman (2007) Gomorrah (2008) Baarìa (2009) The First Beautiful Thing (2010) Terraferma (2011) Caesar Must Die (2012) The Great Beauty (2013) Human Capital (2014) Don't Be Bad (2015) Fire at Sea (2016) A Ciambra (2017) Dogman (2018) The Traitor (2019) Notturno (2020)
2021–present	The Hand of God (2021) Nostalgia (2022) Io capitano (2023) Vermiglio (2024)