Quiet Chaos

Pietro and his brother save two women from drowning at the beach. When he gets home he learns that his wife died in the garden at the same hour. After the funeral he drops his daughter at school and waits in the car. The next day he waits again. Then he starts sitting every day on the bench across from the school. He does not go to work, he answers the phone, and everyone comes to visit him there: his boss, his brother, his brother in law, his colleagues. Antonello Grimaldi directs. Nanni Moretti plays Pietro and also worked on the screenplay. The source is Sandro Veronesi's novel. The idea is that the grief does not arrive. Pietro waits to weep and does not; the narrative takes that emptiness as its subject and builds no story of recovery. The bench works as a fixed point. Everyone comes to him and talks about their own matter while he listens; after a while the film becomes a portrait of those around him rather than of him. The merger at the company is a second layer and shows the impatience of business in the face of mourning. The novel had won the Strega prize in Italy and the adaptation was awaited. One scene caused argument; the sexual passage was discussed in Italy for a long time and drew a reaction in some quarters. Who it is for: viewers who like Italian character drama and Nanni Moretti. Who it is not for: little happens, the pace is slow, and the narrative reaches no conclusion.