I’ve had a copy of Francesca Archibugi’s Questione di Cuore (Question of the Heart) lying on my shelf for a while now, with no interest in watching it – because of this picture on the cover of the DVD. Seriously. Look at it.
This might be one of the most misleading pictures of a movie that I have ever seen on the cover of a DVD and I’d have waited another couple of months to watch it if I hadn’t decided to take a look at Italian Women Directors. DIrector Francesca Archibugi isn’t new to filmmaking; she’s won David di Donatello and Nastro d’Argento awards and, despite the sexism that Cannes seems to be getting a reputation for, got a special mention there in 1993 for Il Grande Cocomero (The Big Pumpkin) with Sergio Castellito.
Questione di Cuore (2009) is funny, but it’s not the wacky slapstick that the picture with actors Antonio Albanese and Kim Rossi Stuart surfing on the hood of a car suggests. It begins with screenwriter Alberto, played by Albanese, rushing himself to the hospital after an apparently mild a heart attack. He has a hard time getting the staff’s attention and laments that “Only in Rome do you stand in line for a heart attack”. While he’s waiting, they’re wheeling in a more serious heart attack victim, Angelo, an auto body man played by Kim Rossi Stuart.
Recovering in the hospital, the two very different men become friends; Alberto, recovering quickly but in no rush to return to his shallow life, and Angelo, with everything to live for, still gravely ill. Angelo, surrounded by his beautiful, pregnant wife (played by Micaela Ramazzotti), his children, and his mother, watch in awe as Alberto’s hospital visitors include (real actors and directors playing themselves) Francesca Comencini, Daniele Luchetti, Stefania Sandrelli, Sorrentino, Paolo Virzì, and Carlo Verdone in a hilarious cameo, grabbing a hospital gown and rushing into Alberto’s intensive care bedside to give him medical advice. Alberto seems to have it all, including a beautiful, young girlfriend (Francesca Inaudi), but he’s not happy. As their lives intertwine, both find that there are things that each has to offer the other.
The DVD cover publicity photo is ridiculous and the premise is a little weak, but there’s a lot to like in this movie, particularly the acting. Albanese really is one of Italy’s best, and Kim Rossi Stewart plays the simple family man perfectly. And though I’ve never been Micaela Ramazzotti’s biggest fan, she does a very nice job as Rossana, helping run the body shop and fretting over her sick husband.
Implausible as the outcome seems to me, I love the relationship that Archibugi has created and the actors have interpreted, between Angelo,the simple man who says little and has so much and Alberto, the “big shot” who never stops talking but recognizes that he doesn’t have anything close to the richness of Angelo’s life.
This bittersweet comedy is sweet and entertaining, and it’s a fine example of what an Italian woman has to offer as a director.
Questione di Cuore – 2009
English subtitles option
Director: Francesca Archibugi
Writers: Umberto Contarello (novel), Francesca Archibugi (story)
Stars: Antonio Albanese, Kim Rossi Stuart and Micaela Ramazzotti
I Love Italian Everything 