Compagni di scuola - 1988

 Not really funny, no, it’s more bitter than funny. Not a bad movie per se, it’s not, but it’s not for me, I never want to see it again. It’s the story that I don’t like. It’s about a group of people and what became of them. They were in school together and after 15 years they meet again.

All these people have their own problems, no doubt, but I can’t stand that nobody of these grown up took care of the teenage girl that joined their group, and left her alone with a man that took advantage of her, and nobody really seemed to care. A woman does, a bit, and takes her home, but nobody seems to care about what happened to her. No, it’s the film that doesn’t care about her, that treats her like an object needed to talk about the man.

 

It starts from Federica, who sent everyone an invitation, she wanted to have a party and see her old friends, of a time when life was easier. All her classmates came but 4 because one died, one refused and for the other two the reason is not known. 

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• Piero Ruffolo, called Potato from his mates, seems almost ashamed of being a high-school teacher. He is always nervous, appears scared by the world, in a way, and is not surprising that he fell in love with one of his students. He is weak, clumsy and submissive. He went to the wrong party first and let the lady of the house take all the bottle he brought, then tries to steal a plant but is caught.  When Valenzani tells him to go and get the girl, take her to the party, he never questions it, he does it. He is married to a woman that he finds vulgar and annoying, with a son that he doesn’t even know, always with his mother. He can’t stand that situation, but he would have usually been too scared to do anything about it . After talking to MariaRita and also a waiter in his same situation, who wishes he had divorced many years before, he leaves the party to break things up with his family.  His wife’s father tries to patch things up between them, but has a hard time containing his crazy daughter and there’s little nothing he can do. When Piero gets back to the party and sees Cristina crying, at first he tries to beat up Valenzani, but then he refuses to talk to her. Maybe he was jealout that someone touched her when he never did, which shows that he’s a sh*t person somewhere inside, because she didn’t cheat, didn’t want it, she’s the victim here but nobody seems to realise that. When Cristina gets a ride home, Piero realises she’s going away and suddenly he’s all over her again, wants to see her again, maybe because he’s in love or maybe because after leaving his family she’s the only thing he had left.
• Federica Polidori is their host, a beautiful, elegant woman living in a beautiful villa. She calls herself a kept woman, for a long time it seems that the sixth man among the richest in Italy paid for everything for her. She does not look happy, and at the end she admits she’s been evicted and has nothing left. She’ll go stay with Gloria, a classmate who offers to take her in.
• Ciardulli has always been a bit of a clown, and he plans to scare them all with a fake robbery but the politician’s bodyguards beat him up. He went into show-business, but at the moment is full of debts. He tries poker, but his classmates win. He refuses to pay because he has no money and instead asks them for some, even going round on his knees. Still, he’s also always ready to help, like when they need to carry the wheelchair upstairs or when Piero’s car is broken. He’s the only one that tries to help him with it.
• Walter Finocchiaro arrives driving an expensive red car. He’s loud and blunt. He drives a mate away, Fabris, with his constant mocking of him. Much later he complains that the money he had with him is gone, someone in there stole it, but then re stays for the rest of the party.
• Valenzani went into politics, he’s an undersecretary, and is used to people trying to ask him for favours, as he is used to getting whatever he wants, whatever the cost. He acts like a big man but he’s nothing more than a criminal with a drug problem. He takes advantage of a high-school student and then goes away.
• Valeria Donati and Luca Guglielmi- She comes with a friend. She’s angry at her soon-to-be ex-husband and almost leaves when she sees him at the party, she says she never wants to see him again, and spends the first half of the party avoiding him. Postiglione keeps talking to her though, and eventually she can’t listen to him anymore and prefers Luca’s company. He talks to her all night trying to win her back, and eventually they kiss and he’ll take her home on his bike.
• Maria Rita is a psychologist, a therapist, and therefore everyone tends to talk to her about their business. She listens to people all night, then after a bit of drinking she snaps at Piero that nobody ever wants to listen to her, but later apologises. She takes Cristina home.
• Lepore and Santolamazza, they prank the others all night. Lepore tells them that Lino Santolamazza had an accident, that all his family died and he was badly injured and on a wheelchair. We see quite early that they laugh about it together. They go on with it all night, planning for a big scene at the end, when he would scream of a miracle that he can walk again, but Ciardulli sees him and understands it was all a lie, so he ties his wheelchair to the catering van, about to leave. Lino gets hurt and everybody learns the truth.
• Piermaria Fabris apparently changed a lot since his school days. He appears to be a friendly and kind man, brings flowers for their host and is happy to meet his old friends, but quite soon he gets fed up with their mocking and the fact that nobody recognises him and nobody has a friendly word for him, and goes away.
• Postiglione is so boring, talks so much that they all avoid him. He talks incessantly to anyone he can grasp, literally, until they put something in his wine and he spends the rest of the night sleeping on a couch.
• Gloria arrives with a baby boy that she could not leave at home. She is not married and does not want to talk of the baby’s father. She loves her child and is friendly with anyone, and when she learns that Federica doesn’t have a house anymore, promptly offers her to live together for a while, until she’s settled.
• Jolanda drives Valeria to the party, and is totally on her side against Luca. She’s outgoing and self-confident, and a bit annoyed when Valeria stays with Luca at the end. Jolanda gets stuck with Lino more than once, the two pranksters (lets call them that…) have her spoon-feed him, and then move his chair around to dance. 
• Margherita is married to a man from the south, a Carabinieri captain, who will come get her at midnight. She spends the whole night with Toscani, they talk, they dance, he keeps flirting with her. At 2350 her husband arrives and he says that the man came ten minutes early. She replies that it’s him that arrived 15 years too late, and then kisses him before going out. Later we see that he finally found the earring (or whatever it was) that she lost, and smiles. Either because he’s thinking of her, or because he’s planning to see her again, maybe using the earring as an excuse
• Gioia is the female clown of the class, always making the others laugh. She’s sad inside because she can never have children.
• Giulio Atteni is clearly in love with Federica, unrequited. He is enthusiastic, shoots a video of their reunion, and is the only one that tries to stop Walter and the others when they keep mocking Fabris at the beginning. He laughed too, at first, but then he noticed Fabris’ expression and tried to stop the others from continuing. 

Piero Ruffolo - Carlo Verdonea

Federica Polidori - Nancy Brilli

Bruno Ciardulli - Christian De Sica

Walter Finocchiaro - Angelo Bernabucci

Mauro Valenzani - Massimo Ghini

Valeria Donati - Eleonora Giorgi

Luca Guglielmi - Piero Natoli

Maria Rita Amoroso - Athina cenci

Cristina - Natasha Hovey

Armando Lepore - Maurizio Ferrini

Lino Santolamazza - Alessandro Benvenuti

Piermaria Fabris - Fabio Traversa

Ottavio Postiglione - Luigi Petrucci

Gloria Montanari - Luisa Maneri

Jolanda Scarpellini - Isa Gallinelli

Margherita Serafini - Giusi Cataldo

Toscani - Giovanni Vettorazzo

Gioia Savastano - Carmela Vincenti

plus

Gianny Musy - Piero’s father-in-law