Human Capital

One night near Milan a waiter on a bicycle is hit on the road and left there. The film tells the same six months three times, from three sides: Dino, an estate agent trying to move his daughter closer to a rich family, Carla, that family's wife with nothing to do, and the young people of both households. Who was in the car that night comes out at the end, but what the film is really interested in is what a human life is worth on an insurance calculation. Paolo Virzi directed. The source is Stephen Amidon's 2004 American novel, set in Connecticut. Virzi moved it to Brianza, north of Milan at the foot of the Alps, turning American middle-class anxiety into Italian provincial wealth. It was nominated in nineteen categories at the David di Donatello awards, the Italian Oscars, and won seven, including Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Actress. The coldest idea in it is where the title comes from: insurance companies value a dead person by the income they would have produced, and the waiter's figure comes out low. Who it is for: viewers who like structures that rebuild one event from different angles, and European drama about class. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a sympathetic character. Almost everybody sells someone out at some point and the film absolves nobody.