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"I
left Rimini when I was seventeen. I really didn't
know the young men who hung around the street corners,
the 'lady killers' I portray in I
Vitelloni, but I would observe
them. They were older than I, so they weren't my
friends, but I wrote about what I saw of them and
their lives, and about what I imagined. For a young
man in Rimini, the life was inert, provincial, opaque,
dull, without cultural stimulation of any kind.
Every night was the same night."
Federico Fellini
Although it is now obscured by the brilliance of Fellini's
great works, I Vitelloni
ironically paved the way for Fellini's career. After
the commercial failures of Variety Lights
and The White
Sheik, this film's Silver Lion award
at the Venice Film Festival and it's international
acceptance provided Fellini
financial opportunities to direct subsequent projects.
Considering that his next major project was La
Strada, all cineastes are greatly
indebted to this early highly autobiographical film
that bookends well with Amarcord.
Twenty years apart, both films draw characters from
Fellini's Rimini,
but his earlier film focuses more on the immaturity
of its "overgrown calves" (the literal translation
of the title) and the hopeless banality of life there.
Only Moraldo (Franco Interlenghi, previously in Sciuscià)
poses hope. Clearly the moral center of the film,
the keenly observant and sensitive Moraldo represents
Fellini, as the only character to eventually leave
the insular community for unknown regions. The others
remain hopelessly transfixed in their ruts, subjecting
themselves to pleasing their parents. Italians have
very closely knit families, and households contain
multi-generations; many of the men try more to avoid
causing their mothers to cry than attempting to strike
out independently to forge their own lives. Such is
the case with four of the main characters, who accurately
reflect Alberto's claim that they are "nobodies."
Alberto (Alberto Sordi) remains a "mama's boy," supposedly sacrificing his life for the sake of his mother after his sister abruptly leaves home with the man of her dreams--not that he has any real plans of his own anyway. Riccardo (Riccardo Fellini) has pipe dreams of becoming an opera singer, but he will only use his tenor voice at community gatherings. Likewise, Leopoldo (Leopoldo Trieste) fancies himself a great writer but distracts himself with the neighboring maid rather than penning any plays of worth, and blows his chance to get his play into the hands of an influential actor. Moraldo's brother Fausto (Franco Fabrizi) takes on the quintessential role of the Italian skirt chaser. After impregnating Sandra (Leonora Ruffo), he first attempts to flee his responsibility and then continues to chase older married women after being forced to marry.
As Fellini
sketches his characters, he also clearly forms the
nature of the community, where everyone knows everyone
else's business and gossip passes as fast as the opening
cloudburst that busts up the dinner party. Rituals
rule--whether revolving around the workday, the church,
or the annual events like the beach party to name
Miss Mermaid or the Carnival. The results are always
the same no matter the evening ritual--the men talk
about the women, they drink too much, Alberto's mother
waits for him before heading to bed, Leopoldo puts
on the same opera music before distracting himself.
Only Moraldo finds himself alone on the streets at
3 A.M., quietly pondering his thoughts. But even that
turns into a ritual after he finds a kindred soul
up at the same time--a young boy employed at the train
station, and responsibly gets up early to head for
work. After Moraldo leaves his sleeping comrades behind
for an ambiguous future, the boy's farewell smile
and balancing act on the Rimini rails provides a satisfying
ending salvo.
Many Felliniesque moments mark I Vitelloni.
Of course, Nino Roto's musical score makes the film
sound like Fellini--most remarkable is his full musical
scoring of Chaplin's whimsical vaudeville ditty from
Modern Times in the Carnival
scene. True to the spirit of a Fellini
film, several scenes provide chuckles and outright
laughter. Controlled fatherly belt beatings are done
with great humor, Fausto's clumsy flirtations are
foiled, and Alberto's "up yours" gesture shortly backfires
when their vehicle stalls--all accompanied with Fellini's
superb comic timing and Roto's musical flare.
Although many critics have cited La Dolce
Vita as the natural follow up to I
Vitelloni with Marcello Mastroianni
taking on the Fellini
character that has succumbed to Rome's decadence,
there is absolutely no need for such a literal interpretation.
Moraldo's fate here remained undetermined, and this
now overlooked film stands on its own merits. It's
well known that virtually all of Fellini's
films contain autobiographical snippets, whether taken
from real life encounters or dredged from his dreams.
This stands alongside Amarcord
as an earlier reminiscence of Fellini's
life in Rimini--not his most provocative film, but
certainly a fun film to watch multiple times, and
another of the required canon for Fellini fans.
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