The misunderstood
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The misunderstood |
| Original title | Incompreso |
| Country of production | Italy |
| original language | Italian |
| Publishing year | 1966 |
| length | 105 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Luigi Comencini |
| script |
Leo Benvenuti Piero De Bernardi (with the assistance of Giuseppe Mangione and Lucia Drudi Demby ) |
| production | Angelo Rizzoli |
| music | Fiorenzo Carpi |
| camera | Armando Nannuzzi |
| cut | Nino Baragli |
| occupation | |
| |
The Incompreso is an Italian melodrama from 1966 directed by Luigi Comencini . The plot, based on a novel by Florence Montgomery, tells of the lack of understanding that arises between a son and his father after the death of his mother.
action
The British consul Duncombe is based in Florence with his family . When his wife is transferred to a hospital after a serious illness and dies, he only informs his 8-year-old son Andrea; he thinks the 4-year-old Milo is too sensitive to find out about his mother's death immediately. For the household and the supervision of the children he hires the carer Luisa, whom Andrea encounters hostile and disobedient from the beginning.
While the consul shows Milo a lot of care and reads him bedtime stories, he skips Andrea. He feels left alone with his grief. Annoyed by the boys' insubordination, Luisa leaves the house and is replaced by the gentler Judy. On the father's birthday Andrea sets off for the city to buy him a present, accompanied by the defiant Milo, whom he didn't want to take with him. When they are running late and are holding onto a bus on their way back by bike, she accidentally sees her father and is angry about the dangerous driving style. Nevertheless, he tries to be lenient and explains to Andrea that the best gift he could give him is obedience. In the evenings he listens to tape recordings of his wife speaking. Andrea discovers the tape and listens to her voice too, unnoticed by her father. However, if the device is operated incorrectly, he will delete the recording. In front of the father, who misses the tape, he denies having anything to do with it, but desperately looks for a specialist dealer who cannot save the recording. There Andrea grabs a bottle of liqueur. Uncle Will, who is visiting, helps the drunk man and keeps his silence from the consul. To find more access to Andrea, the father leads him to his office in the consulate and promises him to take him to Rome on the weekend. Andrea is enthusiastic and washes the car at home on his own initiative, whereby his jealous, whining brother imposes himself on him and deliberately gets himself wet. The consul blames Andrea for the following cold Milos and leaves for Rome without him.
Now Andrea often strolls alone through the city or by the river. When he climbs up a branch hanging over the river, Milo discovers him and also climbs up, causing the branch to break and Andrea falls. With a spinal injury, he lies on the sofa from which he can look at the portrait of his mother. The fact that the consul calls on the best doctors for treatment cannot change the fact that Andrea will remain paralyzed. The boy expresses his wish not to go on living. The consul confesses whether his own pain at the death of his wife has not noticed the pain of Andreas, and expresses his love and pride for him before he dies. Now Duncombe realizes that it was not Milo but Andrea who was the more sensitive of his two sons.
theme
Regarding genre, the film can be classified as melodrama, even if humor in the form of Uncle Will is noticeable occasionally. His arc of tension necessarily leads to the death of Andreas, but without the tearfulness that is characteristic of the novel. The family depicted is wealthy; the complete absence of economic constraints allows the director to devote himself entirely to the psychological aspect of the father-son conflict. The different levels of concern of the two sons "Comencini often emphasizes in his films that younger children have a kind of natural toughness that enables them to get through [...] while they become more vulnerable as they grow". The younger brother possesses the filial malevolence common for his age, which arms him against trauma following the loss of his mother. The self-destructive behavior of the elder, on the other hand, is a cry for help for understanding and affection.
reviews
In the Cahiers du cinéma there was praise for cameraman Armando Nannuzzi - one cannot praise the beauty of the framed pictures, the landscapes and the decorations enough. The film was made with more routine, more ellipses and with a representation that is far superior to a usual melodrama; Comencini's skill is amazing. "He is more than a craftsman, but much less than an author." Because he has too little personal connection to the material and only sees problems in the staging without questioning the script, so that he falls into a certain cynicism.
According to Jean A. Gili, author of a book about Comencini, the filmmaker injects some bitterness to accuse critical structures, in this film a family structure that is characterized by indifference and incomprehension and is therefore a deadly structure. The final scenes of the film are said to have an almost unbearable intensity.
Comencini himself described the misunderstood as a film "that I like very much and of which I am proud."
background
The film, set in Florence , was shown in cinemas in Italy before it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1967. He was not seen in cinemas in Germany.
Luigi Comencini received the David di Donatello for best director for this film in 1967 , while Armando Nannuzzi received a Nastro d'argento for best camera work in color the following year .
In 1984 there was an American remake (Misunderstood) directed by Jerry Schatzberg .
Web links
- The Misunderstood in the Internet Movie Database (English)