In the middle of August, Italy just stops. Rome becomes a ghost town. Its citizens leave for the beach or the countryside, markets close their doors ““ it can even be an ordeal finding a place to buy a bottle of wine. That’s the draw of the Ferragosto, one of Italy’s most widely celebrated holidays.
“Mid-August Lunch,” Gianni Di Gregorio’s directorial debut, is about a 60-something Italian man (also played by Di Gregorio) who is stuck in Rome during the Ferragosto. Fortunately, he does not have to spend the holiday alone ““ he has his 93-year-old mother for company.
The film becomes complicated when Gianni’s landlord pawns his own mother off on Gianni for a couple of days. And then the landlord’s aunt shows up. Gianni’s doctor friend visits Gianni to give him a check-up and leaves the apartment asking Gianni to take care of his mother as well. Quite suddenly, the protagonist is faced with the problem of running a pseudo-geriatric ward of four women in his small Roman apartment.
Although the film’s culminating scene is the mid-August lunch referred to in the title (and held on the Ferragosto), the movie is much more than just a culinary showcase in narrative form. Yes, Gianni is a good cook and the ladies who lunch often find themselves united around the dinner table, but the movie is not about the food.
The numerous close-up shots of homemade Italian cuisine belie the film’s true strength: the four female leads who, together and apart, create a complete image of what it’s like to be old and Italian. As either an indication of Di Gregorio’s independent film spirit or a cinematic nod to Italy’s neorealism film movement, all four women were non-actors cast in a feature film. The women essentially play themselves in the film, even going by their real names.
Valeria de Franciscis plays Gianni’s mother, Valeria. At 93 years old at the time of filming, she is perhaps the oldest cast member in the film. Her performance is brutally honest and consequently humorous. As Gianni reads a copy of “The Three Musketeers” to his mother, she asks her son what D’Artagnan is like physically, but then loses interest completely once she finds out he has a hooked nose ““ dismissing it as a beak.
This sort of humor is often the pattern for the other women’s comedic contributions. The set-up calls for an innocent plea immediately followed by an impolite or overtly offensive turn. The very different personalities of the women create a structured humor without being formulaic.
The landlord’s mother (Marina Cacciotti) is an elegant wild child who abides the couch by day but sneaks out of the apartment to go drinking by herself. The aunt (Maria Calì) fills the role of the slightly senile octogenarian, frequently repeating herself and recounting the same stories about her kids and her baked pasta recipe. The doctor’s mother (Grazia Cesarini Sforza) is the quiet grandma who, despite her worrisome son’s rigid prescription of pills and restricted diet, surreptitiously rebels against the rules.
The interaction between all four women feels entirely uncontrived, which is one of the film’s major boons. The screenplay, also penned by Di Gregorio, focuses the women’s natural energy on the difficulties that Gianni has with them, both individually and collectively. Nothing too serious happens during the Ferragosto, but the audience can easily identify and relate to the stress placed upon Gianni.
Claustrophobic cinematography reflects this stress. Frequent close-ups of all characters within the apartment, hand-held camera techniques, the inclusion of multiple subjects within a single frame ““ often at different depths ““ show that space is limited and that nerves go wild within Gianni’s apartment. This is contrasted by the open outdoor shot, which follows Gianni and his friend Viking (Luigi Marchetti) as they ride around Rome by moped.
The film is a wholly enjoyable comedy. It is genuine in its intent and true to life in its implementation. The camera work is creative, the writing is heartfelt and funny, and the acting is superb ““ mostly because the women are so candid and comfortable in their own skin, so it never feels like acting. The only major concern is that the movie is oddly short. At only 75 minutes, “Mid-August Lunch” may leave you wanting seconds.
E-mail Boden at dboden@media.ucla.edu.