La febbre (2005) User Reviews

difficult for strangers

[dierk_janssen · 5/10 · 29 September 2005]

for me, not being from italy, it is very difficult to get into this kind of Italian problematic. from the very first to the last minute i thought, oh boy, aren't you a bit to old for this role - obviously he wasn't. unlike the rest of europe, the italians prefer to stay at hotel-mama, till they get married - so up to 35 / 38... insofar strange for all others if one complains that his mother is not as nice to his new girlfriend as expected - with thirty-something... apart of the age the rest was quiet OK - still very Italian. after 30 - 40 minutes the technique of cutting changes - no idea why... can't decide whether it's good or bad.

Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

[gabrieletaibo · 8/10 · 6 August 2005]

Alessandro D'Alatri is one of the most interesting Italian directors around. He comes from the world of publicity but that is not enough to explain his lavish visual dexterity. His talent is as real as the subjects he touches. I fell in love with "Senza Pelle" (Without Skin) a D'Altri film of a few years ago. In that one he had the workings of an impossible triangle in the hands of three superb actors, Anna Galiena, Kim Rossi Stuart and Massimo Ghini, the rhythms and the revelations were fast and furious, lyrical and true, most of anything that, true. You felt it with every fiber of your body. In "La Febbre" his hand is still the hand of a passionate master but the story revolves mainly around one character, played by Fabio Volo. He is certainly effective, with a lovely, childish face and a melancholic smile, he has been wonderfully directed but doesn't have the depth or the range of a Rossi Stuart. His scenes are beautifully played but they work individually, not as a whole. The character through the actor seems to have forgotten what it came before. It doesn't grow and develop during the length and breath of the film, but in short or semi short scenes. I like the actor very much but the film with a great actor could have become, transcendental. The young Sordi, even a foreigner like Edward Norton could have given the part what clearly were D'Alatri's intentions. I don't want to bring this marvelous film down. It is one of the best Italian films I've seen in a long time. There's something here that we've never seen before, truly new. There is also something borrowed, the "once Italian, always Italian" syndrome and as a consequence something blue. A melancholic look backwards with the sights set, hopefully, forward.

If envy were fever, everybody would be feverish!

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 20 August 2010]

Mario Bettini, a student living in Cremona, has great ideas. Together with his close friends, he wants to open a club in a nice spot, something he thinks will be a success. Mario's dreams are short lived when his group run into bureaucratic problems. To make things difficult, he receives a letter from city hall, telling he has been accepted for an opening, after four years of waiting. His widowed mother is happy for him; Mario certainly deserves this break.

What Mario did not realize is, that in accepting the position, he will come face to face with an envious man in charge. Mario, is told by his boss, Cerqueti, who is clearly a political appointee, to work with Faoni, a man that has spent forty years working in the place and is looking forward to his retirement. Bettini, proves to be smarter than the mediocrity that surrounds him, something that elicits Cerqueti's anger when he realizes the new employee is smarter than he will ever be.

As a result of having devised a plan to make things work in the cemetery, he is permanently assigned to the graveyard. Faoni, who tries to reason with him, is not able to change Mario's mind. When he meets the gorgeous Linda, Mario falls head over heel with her. Unfortunately, she has won a scholarship and will be going to America to further her studies. The sudden death of his good friend Faoni, is a sobering reminder of an unfulfilled life gone to waste.

Alessandro D'Alatri, the director, and one of the writers of the fine screenplay, shows a great new talent in the Italian cinema. There are a lot of ideas in this tale of a plain man trying to fight a system that has existed for quite a long time. A young, perhaps somewhat naive man, witnesses first hand the behind the scenes intrigue going on in the same place that is to serve the people of the community. It is also an expose about people that get in charge of institutions through connections, which seems to be the case with Cerqueti. Mr. D'Alatri's message has to do with envy, as he sees it, or has perhaps experienced in his own life. We are sure that other less talented men would have died to make this movie.

Fabio Volo is perfect as Mario, the talented young man that is kept down because he is smarter than the people in charge. Mr. Volo has great presence and seems to be a natural for the screen. This actor shows a promise that should go far, judging by the work in the film. Valeria Solarino, who plays Mario's love interest, makes a beautiful Linda. Massimo Bagliani is perfectly sly as Cerqueti. Vittorio Franceschi is seen as Faoni. Thomas Trabacchi is fine as Bicio. Mr. D'Alatri gets good acting from the supporting cast.

The beauty of Cremona and the surrounding countryside are gorgeously captured by Italo Petriccione, while the incidental music created by Louis Siciliano works well with the picture. It is to Alessandro Bettini's credit this film is a pleasure to watch.

A perfect masterpiece

[hackett-3 · 8/10 · 15 April 2005]

Mario is a young geometer of Cremona, a splendid medieval city to south of Milano, student out of courses to the faculty of Architecture, He lives to the day performing jobs for a famous architect and he is also on business with 3 friends in the enterprise to turn into pub a mechanic shop. The discovery to have won the contest for a municipal employee thanks to an application been by his father four years before and the consequent possibilities of a fixed employment will transform his existence. To the beginning all seems easy and also funny, but when for his cleverness He will arouse the envies of an executive the life and the dreams of Mario will suffer an abrupt fall. Does the job ennoble the man? Can it conduct him to his own realization in the context of the society in order to increase his happiness? The movie seems to suggest that it is possible, on condition that is gone down to compromises with reality, done by recommendations, favors and kickbacks. For the idealists and the irreducible ones the only street of escape is given by the negation of reality, the creative construction of something of private and not subject to the control of the other people and even the state. Splendidly shot by Alessandro D'Alatri, played with a lot of passion by a great Fabio Volo, the movie represents an interesting fresco of the contemporary Italian society.

what makes YOU happy in this life?

[vshlimak · 8/10 · 26 October 2005]

Loved the movie!!! Was so 'in tune' with my own feelings & thoughts about what makes me (all of us?) genuinely happy in life...

Alessandro D'Alatri did a great job again - I also loved his CASOMAI a couple of years ago.. I think Fabio Volo is a perfect Mario, a typical Italian 30-something (correct me if I'm wrong, as I never lived in Italy and base my opinion on the stories from my Italian friends in Melbourne & Italy and number of movies about 30+'s..) who's in search of his own happiness within himself... Also, I must admit that it was quite hard to look at Valeria Solarino because of her breathtaking beauty - I could understand Mario in that sense! :-) And Cremona!!! I just want to move there now and forget that the rest of the world exists!..