Thus Spoke Bellavista

An apartment block in Naples. The retired professor Bellavista spends his days on the stairs and outside the door; he sits with the neighbours talking about ancient Greek philosophy and ties every subject back to it. The building is crowded; everyone interferes in everyone else's business and nobody is in a hurry. Then someone from the north moves in. Cazzaniga manages a factory; he is orderly, punctual and has no patience with noise. Two worlds meet in the same building. Luciano De Crescenzo directs and plays the lead. The source is his own book. De Crescenzo worked as an engineer and then became a writer; his books sold widely in Italy and this film is his attempt at directing. The opposition the narrative builds is north against south; that division in Italy is the film's direct subject and the narrative carries it through jokes. The structure is loose; there is almost no plot and the scenes consist of conversation. The Neapolitan dialect is inside the narrative and most of the humour depends on language. What the film argues for is not efficiency but relation; it says so openly and does not close the argument. It was a large commercial success in Italy and its lines entered everyday speech. Who it is for: viewers who like Italian comedy and films built on talk. Who it is not for: nothing happens, the humour depends on language, and the structure is loose.