I Vitelloni (1953)
Cinematheque – 5:30 p.m.
comedy/drama
Director: Federico Fellini
Italy/France, 104 minutes
Italian with subtitles, Black & White
High Historical Importance

Five young men linger in a post-adolescent limbo, dreaming of adventure and escape from their small seacoast town. They while away their time spending the lira doled out by their indulgent families on drink, women, and nights at the local pool hall. Federico Fellini’s second solo directorial effort (originally released in the U.S. as The Young and the Passionate) is a semiautobiographical masterpiece of sharply drawn character sketches: Skirt chaser Fausto, forced to marry a girl he has impregnated; Alberto, the perpetual child; Leopoldo, a writer thirsting for fame; and Moraldo, the only member of the group troubled by a moral conscience. An international success and recipient of an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Screenplay, I Vitelloni compassionately details a year in the life of a group of small-town layabouts struggling to find meaning in their lives.—The Criterion Collection

I Vitelloni is an Italian comedy/drama film directed by Federico Fellini. Recognized as a pivotal work in the director's artistic evolution, the film has distinct autobiographical elements that mirror important societal changes in 1950s Italy. Rated 100 on the infamous Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes

5:30 p.m. I Vitelloni – Cinematheque
Meet in the Lobby 10 minutes ahead of time or look for the group inside the theater. We’ll try to save seats in the first two rows of the upper section, center. The flick is almost 2 hours, so expect to be out around 7:30 p.m.

7:45 p.m. After Film Discussion/Dinner – the After-Party @ Ristorante Etna
Since film ends early, we’ll head over to Ristorante Etna, 11919 Mayfield Road, [masked], for discussion, drinks and perhaps dinner. Etna is named after the famous and magnificent Mount Etna volcano on Sicily’s north east coast a visual treat when sailing through the Straights of Messina.

Special note – For Members Only! Chef and Owner Peppe Pilumeli will present complementary deserts from the menu for each entrée purchased. The menu selection is fantastic and features not only gelato but also some Italian-themed treats constructed with fresh berries, freshly whipped cream and chocolate! Expect a gastronomical delight

We will have a reserved table so you must indicate "dinner on your RSVP to have a seat! Please let us know your dinner plans on your RSVP so that we can reserve a seat for you at the "Movie Group" table. We have requested separate checks but due to the size of our group, you can expect a standard gratuity to be added. If circumstances force you to cancel, please try to notify the organizer as early as possible. It’s best to pay your check in cash to streamline the process.

Plot – Synopsis
As summer draws to a close, a violent downpour interrupts a beach-side beauty pageant in a provincial town on the Adriatic coast. Sandra Rubini (Leonora Ruffo), elected "Miss Siren of 1953", suddenly grows upset and faints: rumours fly that she’s expecting a baby by inveterate skirt chaser Fausto Moretti (Franco Fabrizi). Under pressure from Francesco (Jean Brochard), his respectable father, Fausto agrees to a shotgun wedding. After the sparsely attended middle-class ceremony, the newlyweds leave town on their honeymoon.
Unemployed and living off their parents, Fausto's twenty-something friends kill time shuffling from empty cafés to seedy pool halls to aimless walks across desolate windswept beaches. During the interim, they perform immature pranks. Taunting honest road workers from the safety of a luxury car they never earned, they're given a sound thrashing when it runs out of gas.
Back from his honeymoon and settled in with Sandra, Fausto is forced to accept a job as a stockroom assistant in a religious-articles shop owned by a friend of his father-in-law's. Incorrigible, he pursues other women even in his wife's presence. One evening after a variety show, Leopoldo agrees to accompany old Sergio for a walk along the seashore to discuss the merits of his play but when the actor propositions him, he takes to his heels in horror.

Review

By: Marcin Kukuczka
After Lo Sceicco Bianco (1952), a young Italian director whose name was at the time barely famous, Federico Fellini manifested his artistic vision not as a Neo-realist, which would logically be associated with the Italian cinema of those days, but as an independent individual figure. Brave as it might have seemed, the young man from Rimini who already worked with some Neo-realists, including Roberto Rossellini, achieved an individual success. I Vitelloni being for many people the first look at the young talent appeared to be the opening door, a dawn for the career of, though controversial, one of the greatest directors.
But that is history and modern viewers usually ask an important question: will I like the film even if I am not a Fellini buff? How is I Vitelloni perceived nowadays? Do people - not the elite but simple ordinary viewers - find Fellini attractive? Although it is hard to answer these questions at once, I highly enjoyed this film which appears to be a combination of autobiography and fantasy, of pleasure and confusion, of chaos and cosmos.
I Vitelloni has a wonderful content and truly believable characters with captivating stories that one may analyze at different levels and from various perspectives. Fausto represents an irresponsible page of man's life. Although he gets married and seems to love his young beautiful wife Sandrina, his psyche faces a contradiction: desire of women does not allow him to live a stable family life. Other of his friends have more or less similar interests but they are all single. They badly want to leave their province homes for a luxurious life yet only one of them dares to do it... Women are their blessing and their curse, dreams are their fears and their bliss. Yet, carnival is equal for all: a true relief. What a life!
However, the content of I Vitelloni is in no way on the focus. It is rather a movie, like our psyche, built upon details. Every detail makes a perfect sense in the harmony. What details do I mean: MOMENTS that have a powerful impact on the memory and subconsciousness of single viewers. I loved the scene on the beach: cold, windy Sunday and the symbolic look at life. Another brilliant piece is when the men are wandering through the streets and long for Fausto who is in Rome with his newly married wife. Moraldo's conversation with young boy, Guido, at night is also memorable. I was personally overwhelmed by the way Fellini refers to inspiration as sea wind...
But to these moments, I must add an important aspect: wit. Humorous moments are what makes the film a particular atmosphere. It's on the one hand pretty psychological and on the other hand a great, enjoyable, amusing spectacle. The show of the carnival and the flirting, Fausto's new job, the episode with the stolen angel, search for Sandrina, etc. I slipped my sides at some of the moments and particularly when Fausto danced in the street just after his return from Rome.
However, I have not yet touched a significant aspect: why I Vitelloni is so Felliniesque? It is because of the themes he discusses here and continued to rise in his later works: hypocrisy of social conventions like in Nights of Cabiria (1957), marital treason like in Giulietta Degli Spiriti (1965), family (parent) pressure like in 8 1/2 (1963), journey like in La Strada (1956), easy love like in La Dolce Vita (1960). These themes are, like in all of his other movies, perfectly embedded in the stories and supplied with aforementioned wit. But it is crucial to mention that I Vitelloni takes the best of Fellini in general. He does not become so psychedelic like in Giulietta Degli Spiriti or so easy going like in La Dolce Vita. I Vitelloni has the best of his elements with the combination of a particular charm.
But Fellini would not have done so well without great cast. Neo-realism had a tendency to cast infamous people and Fellini goes in the same direction here. Franco Fabrizi, perhaps the only famous actor, is perfect as Fausto. You can find this actor in many Italian productions and this is one of his very best roles. Other male characters all do great jobs.
If you like Fellini, this film is among the three most significant ones for you - a true must have. If you, however, are not very much in love with the director, you will also find many wonderful aspects of this film. It is not too specific like other Fellini films are: a charming Italian silver screen production, an example of "il grande cinema"

(Did you like Martin’s review? Let him know: [masked] )

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