Director: Dino Risi
Year Released: 1962
Rating: 3.5
A hedonistic refrigerator salesman (Vittorio Gassman) has a chance encounter with a shy law student (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and 'invites' him (... more like carefully cajoles him) to drive around the coast with him (erratically) and chase after girls, eat fish soup and drink. What is deceptively presented as a casual comedy actually has intriguing undercurrents - the visits with Trintignant's extended family and Gassman's estranged wife and daughter give a little insight into Trintignant's childhood naivety and Gassman's deeply buried sorrow (masked by brash behavior). The film represents, too, a transitional time in Italy, as each of the two principal characters - Gassman and Trintignant - could represent two different visions of the country: Gassman as the 'new' devil-may-care, self-centered Italy free of moral and ethical concerns while Trintignant embodies the 'old' way of doing things, with great reserve and introspection. Introspection and reserve, in the final shot, get driven off a cliff.
