We All Loved Each Other So Much

Last updated
We All Loved Each Other So Much
CEravamo Tanto Amati.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Italian C'eravamo tanto amati
Directed by Ettore Scola
Written by
Produced by
  • Pio Angeletti
  • Adriano De Micheli
Starring
Cinematography Claudio Cirillo
Edited by Raimondo Crociani
Music by Armando Trovajoli
Production
company
Deantir
Distributed byDelta
Release date
  • 21 December 1974 (1974-12-21)
Running time
124 minutes
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian
Box office$5.2 million (Italy) [1]

We All Loved Each Other So Much (Italian : C'eravamo tanto amati) is a 1974 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Ettore Scola, who co-wrote the screenplay with screenwriting duo Age & Scarpelli. It stars Nino Manfredi, Vittorio Gassman, Stefania Sandrelli, Stefano Satta Flores, Giovanna Ralli and Aldo Fabrizi. Widely considered one of the best films by Scola, and a notable example of the commedia all'italiana, it was dedicated to Italian director Vittorio De Sica. In 2008, the film was included on the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage's 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978." [2]

Contents

Plot

Gianni, Antonio and Nicola are resistance fighters during the war. After it, they return to their lives. Antonio becomes a nurse in a Roman hospital and falls in love with a girl named Luciana. Gianni becomes an assistant in a law firm, the head of which, La Rosa, is running as a deputy candidate for the Socialist Party. Nicola returns to teaching in a small town high school, marries someone named Gabriella and has a child, Tommasino.

Three years after the war, Antonio is with Luciana at a restaurant when Gianni happens to pass by. Thrilled, Antonio starts talking about their days in the resistance. Unbeknownst to him, Luciana and Gianni fall in love with each other.

One night, Gianni and Luciana visit Antonio at the hospital to admit their affair. When the new couple leaves, Antonio runs after them and kicks Gianni.

Meanwhile, Nicola loses his teaching job after a violent argument with his superior about a movie. [lower-alpha 1] Gabriella asks him to apologize to get rehired, to no avail. He leaves her and Tomamasino and goes to Rome with a case of books to find Antonio.

Gianni and Luciana live happily and start to have family projects. Gianni gets a promotion, working for the firm as a lawyer. He is asked to defend in court a real estate constructor who had two of his employees die on a site for not respecting security measures. Gianni refuses, lying about the refusal being due to the problems of La Rosa, now a deputy, who is accused of political and financial misconducts. While they are talking, Elide, the client's youngest daughter arrives and falls in love with Gianni. The client later tries to bribe him into taking the case. Gianni neither accepts nor refuses. Meanwhile, Nicola tries to work in Rome as a movie critic and attempts to start a film magazine, but fails everywhere.

Years later, Antonio and Nicola have lunch at their usual restaurant when Luciana enters. Nicola insists on being introduced. They start talking and Luciana asks about Gianni, whom she has not seen in a long time.

That night, the three are drunk. While Nicola tries to make Luciana laugh, Antonio sits alone. He cannot stand Nicola and argues with Luciana. She says that she can do whatever she pleases, even becoming an actress. Antonio leaves, pissed, while she hides in a photo-booth. Nicola tries to calm Antonio down. He fails and returns to Luciana who has left the photo-booth, having had cried there.

Gianni receives a letter from Nicola saying that Luciana has tried to commit suicide. He visits her.

Luciana has tried a career on stage but has failed. She lives in a hotel room with other artists. Antonio is there, nursing her. When Nicola arrives, she asks him if Antonio knows about "them". Nicola slaps her. She says that their two night story is over and apologizes to Antonio, who starts a fight, saying that he took advantage of her.

When Luciana feels better, they all leave the hotel. She takes a bus, and the two men go their separate ways. Gianni secretly watches this, unable to find the courage to confront his old friends.

Years later, Gianni has married Elide and is now a rich lawyer with two children, Fabrizio and Donatella. They are partying for his client's 69th birthday. Elide mentions how happy she is to be married with Gianni and that other life she would have had, if he had married another woman. This makes Gianni remember Luciana.

While having dinner, Gianni and Elide see Nicola on TV in a quiz show about Italian cinema. Nicola answers all the questions right and wins a lot of money and the right to return the following week for more. He calls his wife, with whom he is reconciled. She advises that he takes the money without risking it at the next show. However, his objective is not the money. He wants his book "Cinema as a school" be published, which an editor promised to do if he won the show's grand prize.

The next show begins. Nicola plays double or nothing, risking to lose all he has won. He is asked a question about Vittorio de Sica. His answer is eventually deemed wrong by the jury. He complains and ends up expelled from the show, losing the money.

Antonio is still working in the hospital. One night, he is in an ambulance blocked by the shooting of a film. [lower-alpha 2] There, he sees an actress, Luciana.

The ex-lovers sit down and talk. Antonio notices that she has become an alcoholic. He invites her for dinner the next evening when her impresario shows up and says that she will be busy. Antonio starts a fight. She asks not to see him again.

A decade later, Gianni is a businessman and quarrels with his father-in-law over a real estate project. They come to blows and the father-in-law sees he is too old and weak to stop Gianni. He gives him power to decide over the business.

Antonio is living with a girl named Valeria. The couple is strolling in a public garden when they meet Luciana, who works as an usher and lives alone with her young son Luigi. She asks about Gianni, but Antonio has no news from him. Antonio and her start to see more of each other.

Gianni has a wonderful house in the countryside and perpetually avoids Elide. One day, desperate to talk to him, she catches him as he goes to work. She confesses to have met, in her despair, another man. He believes that she invented that to upset him. Distraught, she takes her car, starts the engine and rushes to her death.

Meanwhile, Nicola is at a festival. There, De Sica tells an anecdote proving that Nicola was right in his answer in the show. A saddened Nicola refuses to go talk to De Sica, his idol, saying that he has no more to say to him.

Antonio is driving to Rome when he sees Gianni. The two talk, realizing that they have not seen each other in years. Gianni pretends to be broke. They agree on meeting with Nicola, who is now a stringer for a newspaper. Gianni does not plan to attend the meeting and returns to his empty mansion. Elide is dead, his children are gone, and only his father-in-law remains. Distraught, Gianni decides to reunite with his old friends.

The three meet in the usual restaurant. Gianni eventually says that they are a generation of bastards who did nothing to fulfill the hopes they had for a better world. They blame each other's political views and fight again, drunk in the streets. When they stop, Nicola breaks into tears of joy, revealing that Tommasino is getting married.

They all take a car and go to Antonio's wife, who turns up to be Luciana. When talking alone with Luciana, Gianni says that he always remained in love with her. Luciana says that she did not think of him one bit. Gianni leaves while Nicola realizes that he has Gianni's driving license in his pocket.

The next morning, Nicola, Antonio and Luciana visit Gianni and realize that he lied about being broke. They leave the license at the door and start arguing again.

Cast

Box office

After four months of release it had grossed $5.2 million in Italy, the highest-grossing Italian film for the period September 1974 to April 1975. [1]

Awards

The film won a César Award for Best Foreign Film in 1977. It also won two Silver Ribbons (Italian cinema critics award, for Fabrizi and Ralli) and the Golden Prize in the 9th Moscow International Film Festival in 1975. [3]

Notes

  1. More specifically, Bicycle Thieves.
  2. More specifically, La Dolce Vita .

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vittorio De Sica</span> Italian film director and actor (1901–1974)

Vittorio De Sica was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement.

<i>Marriage Italian Style</i> 1964 film by Vittorio De Sica

Marriage Italian Style is a 1964 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica, starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.

<i>After the Fox</i> 1966 British-Italian film by Vittorio De Sica

After the Fox is a 1966 heist comedy film directed by Vittorio De Sica and starring Peter Sellers, Victor Mature and Britt Ekland. The English-language screenplay was written by Neil Simon and De Sica's longtime collaborator Cesare Zavattini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacqueline Sassard</span> French actress (1940–2021)

Jacqueline Sassard was a French actress who appeared in Italian films such as Guendalina directed by Alberto Lattuada, a young woman with family and financial troubles in Luigi Zampa's Il Magistrato and Valerio Zurlini's Violent Summer (1959), in which her character was left by Jean-Louis Trintignant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giovanna Ralli</span> Italian actress (born 1935)

Giovanna Ralli,, is an Italian stage, film, and television actress.

<i>Il signor Max</i> 1937 Italian film

Il Signor Max is a 1937 Italian "white-telephones" comedy film directed by Mario Camerini and starring Vittorio De Sica and Assia Noris.

<i>Scandal in Sorrento</i> 1955 film by Dino Risi

Scandal in Sorrento is a 1955 Italian comedy film directed by Dino Risi. This is the third film of the trilogy, formed by Bread, Love and Dreams in 1953, Bread, Love and Jealousy in 1954. Innovations include the use of color rather than black and white, as well the location of Sorrento instead of the small village of the previous films of the series. At the 6th Berlin International Film Festival it won the Honorable Mention award.

<i>Bread, Love and Jealousy</i> 1954 Italian film

Bread, Love and Jealousy, known as Frisky in the US, is a 1954 Italian romantic comedy film directed by Luigi Comencini. It is the second part of the Italian trilogy, preceded by Bread, Love and Dreams and followed by Scandal in Sorrento.

<i>It Happened in the Park</i> 1953 film

It Happened in the Park is a 1953 film directed by Gianni Franciolini. The film consists of six vignettes set in the Villa Borghese gardens in Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Grazia Buccella</span> Italian actress (born 1940)

Maria Grazia Buccella is an Italian actress, glamour model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Italia 1959 and represented her country at Miss Universe 1959.

<i>My Wifes Enemy</i> 1959 Italian comedy film

My Wife's Enemy is a 1959 Italian comedy film directed by Gianni Puccini.

<i>In Olden Days</i> 1952 film

In Olden Days is a 1952 Italian comedy drama anthology film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and featuring an ensemble cast that included Gina Lollobrigida, Amedeo Nazzari, Vittorio De Sica, Elisa Cegani, Barbara Florian, Aldo Fabrizi, Andrea Checchi and Alba Arnova. It was shot at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Dario Cecchi and Veniero Colasanti. It is also known as Times Gone By and Infidelity.

<i>Boccaccio 70</i> 1962 film

Boccaccio '70 is a 1962 comedy anthology film directed by Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Mario Monicelli and Luchino Visconti from an idea by Cesare Zavattini. It consists of four episodes, each by one of the directors, all about a different aspect of morality and love in modern times in the style of Giovanni Boccaccio.

<i>The Assassination of Matteotti</i> 1973 Italian film

The Assassination of Matteotti is a 1973 Italian historical drama film directed by Florestano Vancini. The film tells the events that led to the tragic end of Giacomo Matteotti and to the establishment of the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini in Italy. It was awarded with the Special Jury Prize at the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.

<i>Grandi magazzini</i> 1986 Italian film

Grandi magazzini is a 1986 Italian anthology comedy film directed by Castellano & Pipolo.

<i>Roman Tales</i> (film) 1955 Italian film

Roman Tales is a 1955 Italian comedy film directed by Gianni Franciolini. It is based on several short stories collected in Racconti romani by Alberto Moravia. The film won two David di Donatello Awards, for best director and best producer.

<i>Wild Cats on the Beach</i> 1959 film

Wild Cats on the Beach is a 1959 Italian-French comedy film directed by Vittorio Sala.

<i>Nel blu, dipinto di blu</i> (film) 1959 film

Nel blu, dipinto di blu, also known as Nel blu, dipinto di blu – Volare, is a 1959 Italian comedy film written and directed by Piero Tellini and starring Domenico Modugno, Giovanna Ralli and Vittorio De Sica.

References

  1. 1 2 "In Four Months Of Continuing Premiere Release (advertisement)". Variety . 7 May 1975. p. 175. Retrieved 13 April 2024 via Internet Archive.
  2. "Ecco i cento film italiani da salvare Corriere della Sera". www.corriere.it. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  3. "9th Moscow International Film Festival (1975)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2013-01-05.