Opening the 11th Cathay Pacific Italian Film Festival, Manual of Love is a textbook of contemporary Italian cinema; a vibrant romantic comedy fraught with the pitfalls and consequences of falling in love. MELODY NIXON reviews.


Manuale d’Amore is the perhaps the ultimate in what contemporary Italian cinema does best – hilarious, frantic and cute romantic comedy. Four different stories are flashed before us, each dealing with a possible outcome of love: the initial falling in, the subsequent breakdown, the seemingly inevitable affair (inevitable at least in Italy: 85% of men have affairs there, 65% of women) and finally, the abandonment. The four stories are linked to one another through couples who talk, often directly, to the camera. These couples present their issue, discuss it with their peers, wreck havoc/make love/escape, come to some resolution, and disappear to be replaced by a seceding couple. Complicated as it sounds, the narrative delivers a simple message: love is glorious, unpredictable, and painful. It seems even the Italians don’t always know how to go about it.

The first couple we are presented with, Tommaso (Silvio Muccino) and Giulia (Jasmine Trinca), are the most endearing. Although Tommaso battles for Giulia’s attention in a way that, outside of the Mediterranean, can only be seen as stalking, he is somehow charming. We are brought to laughter, not fear, as he waits under his amore’s apartment late at night, telephones her incessantly, accuses her of being a liar and interrupts her at work. Needless to say, Guilia is swept off her feet by such a selfless show of affection.

This couple promptly disappears to be replaced by Marco (Sergio Rubini) and Barbara (Margherita Buy), a long married couple whose relationship is, as the Italians say, in crisi. Both equally fed up with the other, Marco and Barbara battle to ‘get to the bottom’ of their disharmony. Marco gives the most ‘Italian’ performance of the film, ranting at his wife, swearing, flagrantly mocking her yet somehow, unbelievably, coming across as terribly, side-splittingly hilarious.

We are then treated to traffic cop Ornella (Luciana Littizzetto), a feisty red haired lady who knows how to command her men. That is, until she finds her husband in passionate embrace with another woman, and her world spirals away. Powerful, gusty and riotous, Littizzetto’s performance is one of the most outstanding of the film.

Finally, sad and lonely Goffredo (Carlo Verdone) takes his place as The Abandoned. Morosely searching for ways to win his wife back, Goffredo buys himself the instructive ‘Manual of Love’. Shamefully embarrassing scenes follow, until Goffredo finds some resolution on the shores of the Italian coast, and tosses caution – and some clothing – into the cool blue sea.

Goffredo strolls off in the sunset and the credits roll. Here, despite the preceeding laughs, the film does however bring a sense of misplacement. Tommaso and Guilia, the vivacious opening couple, are somehow missed throughout the rest of the film. And what did happen between Marco and Barbara? Neither a large sense of circularity nor progression is achieved, despite occasional references to previous characters as the film proceeds.

This said, Manuale d’Amore brings guaranteed laughs and sure escapism. Its success lies in its combination of passionate slapstick and wit. We are drawn into its vibrant world without hesitation and its humour and conviction is of a kind decidedly unique to its country of origin.

See also:
» Cathay Pacific Italian Film Festival 2006: Preview
» italianfilmfestival.co.nz