Two men are fooling around on a beach. They hear cries for help, rush into the water and save two women from drowning. Their efforts unacknowledged, they climb into a car, and drive to one of the men’s homes, a villa in the hills. There, his 10 year-old daughter comes running to him, crying “I tried to call you”. Her mother, his wife, lies dead on the patio, after falling from an open window.
So begins Antonello Grimaldi’s wonderful little big Italian movie Caos Calmo (Quiet Chaos), after the award-winning book of the same name by Sandro Veronesi. The man whose wife is dead and daughter is crying is Nanni Moretti’s Pietro, a big-shot executive in a company facing merger with multinational forces. The other man on the beach is his brother Carlo (Allesandro Gassman), a hot jeans designer. Pietro’s little girl is Claudia (Blu Yoshimi).
At the funeral, many offer support. The restrained Pietro thanks them but has other plans. He takes leave of a business in political turmoil, packs his kid in the family BMW wagon, drives her to school, and stays there. He repeats the routine every day, through late summer, into fall and early winter. If you want him, he’s in the park across the school, or, in a local restaurant, or hanging with locals. When school’s out, he picks Claudia up, and they go home, or have dinner with Carlo, or shop, or talk. She is his world.
His world is also the area around the school. Grimaldi does a brilliant job of drawing in minor characters, establishing routines, and forcing major corporate players and family alike to adapt to Pietro’s routine. He is, obviously, grieving the loss of a wife who had been unbalanced for years. But he does not show it, and, perhaps following suit, neither does his daughter. Life goes on. The seasons change.
There is so much more to this deeply empathetic, very funny, very sad film than these words can convey. The quiet observation of the ordinary, while turmoil rages beneath the surface, is exquisitely expressed by Moretti, know more often for wearing his heart on his sleeve. The support cast is terrific, the soundtrack illuminating, and the entire enterprise a ringing endorsement of everyday human activity. See it.
So begins Antonello Grimaldi’s wonderful little big Italian movie Caos Calmo (Quiet Chaos), after the award-winning book of the same name by Sandro Veronesi. The man whose wife is dead and daughter is crying is Nanni Moretti’s Pietro, a big-shot executive in a company facing merger with multinational forces. The other man on the beach is his brother Carlo (Allesandro Gassman), a hot jeans designer. Pietro’s little girl is Claudia (Blu Yoshimi).
At the funeral, many offer support. The restrained Pietro thanks them but has other plans. He takes leave of a business in political turmoil, packs his kid in the family BMW wagon, drives her to school, and stays there. He repeats the routine every day, through late summer, into fall and early winter. If you want him, he’s in the park across the school, or, in a local restaurant, or hanging with locals. When school’s out, he picks Claudia up, and they go home, or have dinner with Carlo, or shop, or talk. She is his world.
His world is also the area around the school. Grimaldi does a brilliant job of drawing in minor characters, establishing routines, and forcing major corporate players and family alike to adapt to Pietro’s routine. He is, obviously, grieving the loss of a wife who had been unbalanced for years. But he does not show it, and, perhaps following suit, neither does his daughter. Life goes on. The seasons change.
There is so much more to this deeply empathetic, very funny, very sad film than these words can convey. The quiet observation of the ordinary, while turmoil rages beneath the surface, is exquisitely expressed by Moretti, know more often for wearing his heart on his sleeve. The support cast is terrific, the soundtrack illuminating, and the entire enterprise a ringing endorsement of everyday human activity. See it.
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