Quiet Chaos (2008)

Chaos is part of the human condition, as is death. Combine those three aspects in a narrative that explores the grieving process of a well-to-do business man, and you have the basic plot for this film.Each of us grieves in our own way but generally in a manner that's well-known and understood. The man of this story, Pietro Palladini (Nanni Moretti) is different, however, when his wife dies unexpectedly (in the first ten minutes): his attitude is one of apparent indifference. Moreover, his behavior takes another turn when he insists on remaining outside his daughter's school every day, all day, instead of returning to his highly paid, high-powered position as a senior executive with a company that's infighting a merger with an American outfit. When called by his office, he insists he can do his work in his car, or while sitting on a park bench opposite the school...That sort of aberrant attitude raises questions and helped this viewer to stay with the story to peel back the layers and find out what's eating Pietro.As the widower, Nanni Moretti gives a quietly brooding and pensive performance that has an almost di Nero quality. It's contrasted nicely with Carlo (Alessandro Gassman), Pietro's celebrity brother who is as extroverted as Pietro is the opposite – the veritable chalk and cheese. Between the two is Pietro's daughter (Blu Yoshimi) who also displays a marked lack of affect after the death of her mother. On the periphery to those three are the women who intrude upon Pietro's solitary quotidian watch over his daughter's school: Marta (Valeria Gollino), his nervously unstable sister-in-law; Eleonora (Isabella Ferrari), the woman whom he rescued from drowning in the film's opening sequence; and the stunningly ravishing Jolanda (Kasia Smutniak), the young woman who insists upon walking her dog – and herself – closer to where Pietro sits, with each passing day. As Pietro sits and watches her, his gaze tells us he's wandering into fantasy, without a doubt...And, from time to time, some of Pietro's colleagues from the office turn up to discuss office politics and the impending merger – capped, I might add, with a cameo from Roman Polanski as Steiner, the business mogul who wants to use Pietro to help with the merger.Except for one torrid, animalistic sex scene – simply a cry for connection between two lonely people – this is a gentle story that's beautifully photographed around Rome and Lazio, Italy. The acting, especially from Moretti and Yoshimi, is without fault, I think; and Valeria Gollino always gives pleasurable viewing. The soundtrack is adequate; the pacing is in sync with a story that is very much about self-analysis and introspection i.e. some might think too slow – but the editing and direction keep the narrative moving well.So, enjoy the views, the music, the shaded park, and the transient visitors as Pietro comes to terms with his loss. Highly recommended.

This is a movie that only Euro-cinephiles could possibly enjoy. Think of Bergman reading this script. Think of what he would have done with the Marta-Lara arc ... or the Claudia-Carlo arc ... Or the horror with which Pietro says he regards the Holocaust ... Or revealing what Pietro and Steiner discuss in the car with the windows rolled up. The mind boggles.All in all, Pietro is a thoroughly unsympathetic character. The amazing dramatic turn here is that he is completely sympathetic in Act I. But he proves to be so indulgently inert that, by the end of Act II, you don't care much whether he takes the job, screws the girl who walks the dog, lets his brother marry his daughter or jumps back in the ocean and ends it all.The inescapable conclusion is that he only "changes" when Claudia finally fires him as a weirdly obsessed Daddy. Obsessed with what and on what level? Obsessed with protecting his daughter figuratively? Obsessed with achieving personal redemption metaphorically? While we're thinking this over, let's call time out for a long, gratuitously graphic sex scene.And this scene advances the story exactly how? Maybe one good reason for that scene is that, hopefully, it will protect Miss Paladini (or Yoshimi -- whatever) from experiencing the totality of this mess for a few precious years.

This film is all about a man who starts to spend his days in a park next to his daughter's school. He found, in that park, some sort of peace sanctuary, and people he knew for years started to meet him there, exposing their problems to him, just to be listened, because he was doing something most of them dared to even try...I guess the film achieved that point pretty well, but missed a few aspects from the book, like it has already been mentioned by other reviewers..He tripped with his brother in the opium scene. They were supposed to have a conversation by telepathy...very fraternal, indeed...The sex scene, I think, is disposable. In the book too... at least, I could not figure it out why is it there... Maybe he is trying to convince himself that he fully supplanted Lara's death...Another miss, is the final phone call, where he, finally, reaches madness...

The story is surely a good one and the actors all pretty good. The problem I had, and apparently it is a shared view, is that this movie has many unnecessary scenes and superficially shot details which make the result not quite as good as it could have been. A few examples? The first scene with the drowning women is just unbelievable (the sea seems totally calm, it is almost hilarious); the shots in Venice (the only reason I can see is that the film troupe wanted a little break there); the erotic scene between two not so young/not so beautiful actors (pity this scene wasn't between the gorgeous young girl and the brother of the main character, that might have been not necessary either, but at least enjoyable!) the cloying bits with the handicapped; the idealised and quite stereotypical depiction of the Roman school piazza as a nice and friendly environment; the beautiful young girl with the dog so interested in Moretti; even the end titles, with the pelouche monkey name listed... finally the music choice was quite cheesy. Anyway I would lie to say I was not entertained watching it. 6,5/10