Amore in Stockholm

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Movie
German title Amore in Stockholm
Original title Il diavolo
Country of production Italy
original language Italian
Publishing year 1963
length 98 minutes
Age rating FSK 18
Rod
Director Gian Luigi Polidoro
script Rodolfo Sonego
production Dino De Laurentiis ,
Giorgio Morra
music Piero Piccioni
camera Aldo Tonti
cut Tatiana Casini Morigi
occupation

Amore in Stockholm (original title: Il diavolo ) is a feature film by the Italian director Gian Luigi Polidoro from 1963 . The comedy is about a curious Italian (played by Alberto Sordi ) who, under the impression of the freedom of movement and emancipation of Scandinavian women, is unsuccessfully looking for extramarital love adventures in wintry Sweden . An original script by Rodolfo Sonego , who had previously worked on Polidoro's feature film debut The Swedes (1960), a film with a similar theme, served as a template . The production, behind which Dino De Laurentiis stood, won the main prize at the 1963 Berlin International Film Festival as well as a Golden Globe Award .

action

The married Amedeo in his forties travels from Italy to wintry Sweden. The fur trader, who comes from the provinces, promises not only to make purchases at an auction there, but also to experience sexual adventures with the “sinful women” from the north, as his travel guide prophesies. After a sociological discourse with a professor on the ferry from Denmark to Sweden, he unsuccessfully tries to address several beautiful blondes on the train to Stockholm . As a result, Amedeo meets other attractive Swedes. However, these always keep the last distance and there is only an exchange of innocent kisses. Barbro accompanies Amedeo to his hotel room, where he tries to fill her with whiskey and shows her his old war wound. After questioning him, she runs away on the way to the bedroom. Amedeo experiences another strange episode with the rich and married Corinne, whom he meets at the celebrations for the awarding of the Nobel Prizes and invites him to stay overnight. Even a meeting with the sporty and young Karina in a sauna does not lead to the hoped-for success. Although both dare to venture into the snow naked, Karina soon leaves it secretly to meet her boyfriend. The only woman who is willing to give herself to Amedeo turns out to be a minor. After he has performed a kind of “waltz” with his car on a frozen lake and breaks in, Amadeo can be rescued with the help of a helicopter. He returns thoughtfully to his homeland, where his wife Anna is waiting for him.

reception

Polidoro's directorial work was invited to the competition at the 13th International Film Festival in Berlin in June / July 1963 , where the international jury was headed by the British Wendy Toye . At that time , the festival directed by Alfred Bauer suffered from a content crisis and hardly any film was able to inspire. Shortly after the end of the film festival, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung asked about the “special cinematic achievements” of the well-played, nice and fresh comedy. However, Amore in Stockholm is "amusing and spirited, especially in the first half" .

In West Germany, the film was released in theaters in 1964 through the Pallas distributor . Although the German specialist critics subsequently judged that the festival's success was too high for the “loose fable” , they praised the remarkable security of the direction and the performance of the main actor Alberto Sordi. When it opened in the cinema, the FAZ rated the film as a “quite graceful canvas picture book of ethnic psychology about freedom and borders in the relationship of the sexes” . Amore in Stockholm recalled style elements of Alberto Lattuada in his “loving detail painting” and especially in his long exposure . The Berlinale jury "[...] probably wanted to emphasize the theme and intention of this comedy and its gentle pedagogy" . The film-dienst praised the game Sordis, which exudes “its own boyish charm” and with its unobtrusive drollery contributes something to “[...] that the casual fable is mastered with decency” as well as the “excellent visual design” Aldo Tontis . In the small entertainment compartment, Polidoro presented “a round piece of entertainment” . The moral of Amore in Stockholm is "clear, if not without a slag" .

In the United States, where the film also received an award, Amore was shown in Stockholm at the end of December 1963 under the title To Bed or Not to Bed (Eng: "To bed or not to bed") in cinemas. Bosley Crowther ( The New York Times ) rated it as a "tight little satire" . Sordi plays the main role with a "flair of ingenious expectation that is devilish and charming, but never shocking" . Crowther emphasized the open concept and naturalistic design of the comedy. Screenwriter Sonego and director Polidoro had some charmingly bizarre and engaging predatory encounters for Sordi: "Encounters that not only express the loving naivety of the hero but also a delicately spiced sense of humor for the customs and morals of the Swedes" . He also noticed the beauty of the actresses, which he called "living dolls" ( "living dolls" ) described. Andrew Sarris ( The Village Voice ) found the film to be worth seeing mainly because of Sordi's acting demonstration. He delivers the most sensitive performance since Vitelloni (The Idlers) . Director Polidoro develops the material around contradicting cultures in the style of Roberto Rossellini .

Awards

Amore in Stockholm won Polidoros' own surprise in 1963, together with the Japanese contribution Bushido - They love and they kill by Tadashi Imai, the Golden Bear of the Berlin International Film Festival. A year later, two nominations for the Golden Globe Award followed . While Polidoro's directorial work in the Best Foreign Language Film category was left behind by the French production Silent Like the Night of Henri Verneuil , Alberto Sordi won the award for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical . In his victory, he prevailed against the later Oscar- nominated Briton Albert Finney ( Tom Jones - Between Bed and Gallows ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 13th Berlin International Film Festival: June 21 - July 2, 1963 at berlinale.de (accessed on September 30, 2012).
  2. ↑ a b The Bears of Berlin: The Berlinale is over . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 4, 1963, p. 16.
  3. ↑ Amore in Stockholm . In: film-dienst 04/1964 (accessed via Munzinger Online ).
  4. ^ "Amore in Stockholm" . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , April 18, 1964, p. 64.
  5. ↑ Crowther, Bosley: Screen: An Italian's Amours in Sweden: Alberto Sordi Stars in 'To Bed' at Baronet . In: The New York Times , December 23, 1963, p. 18.
  6. ↑ Sarris, Andrew: Films: "To Bed Or Not To Bed" . In: The Village Voice , April 2, 1964, p. 21.