The Little Devil

An Italian comedy. A priest performs an exorcism on a woman. It works; but what comes out does not disappear, it appears in human form and attaches itself to the priest. The being calls itself Giuditta. It knows nothing of the world: food, money, clothes, human behaviour are all unknown and it learns everything by asking. The priest tries to be rid of it. He leaves it at a hotel, runs, hides; none of it works. From there the film becomes a story about a pair. They move through the streets of Rome; one a tired man forced to explain everything, the other someone who knows no rule and therefore makes every rule look ridiculous. What the narrative is interested in is not religion but innocence: Giuditta is not evil, only entirely untaught, and does not understand the limits people set for themselves. In the second half another being appears and the tone shifts; the comedy gives way to a story about parting. Roberto Benigni plays Giuditta and also directed. Walter Matthau plays the priest, and the American actor settling inside an Italian comedy is what balances the film. Stefania Sandrelli is in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes Benigni's performing and Italian comedy of the 1980s. Who it is not for: anyone looking for restrained humour; Benigni is in constant motion here and the jokes come at high speed.