Taglines: A many splendored thing.
We All Loved Each Other So Much movie storyline. Gianni, Antonio and Nicola were resistant during the war, sharing everything like brothers. After the war, they returned to their lives. Antonio as a nurse in a Roman hospital where he fell madly in love with a girl named Luciana. He also milits for the Popular Front. Gianni entered as an assistant a law firm who’s head, La Rosa, is running as a deputy candidate for the Socialist Party. Nicola returned to teachnig in a small town high school, married a woman named Gabriella and had a child, Tommasino. He is an intellectual idealist, active member of the communist party, as well as a passionate film buff.
The story begins three years after the war, as Antonio is lunching with Luciana in a restaurant when Gianni happens to pass by. Antonio is thrilled and he starts talking about the days they resistant life. Luciana and Gianni don’t really listen to him, as they fall in love in silence with each others. Antonio sees nothing.
A following night, Gianni and Luciana visit Antonio to his hospital to speak the truth about their affair. Antonio takes the news very calmly even though Luciana is everything to him. Gianni says he is sorry but cannot contain his feelings for her. Luciana tells Antonio she loves him, but says that with Gianni, “it’s different”. Sad about the two friends splitting over her, she insists that they remain friends. They don’t answer but seem to agree. Luciana and Gianni leave until Antonio suddenly runs after them and kicks Gianni. He says he is not surprised by his friend betrayal, “as you’ve exploited us for years already”, refering to Gianni’s political incline.
Around the same period, Nicola is loosing his teaching job after a violent argument with his superior about the movie Lattri di Biciclette (Vittorio de Sica, 1948). Her wife is despesparate, and asks him to apologize to get back his job, which he won’t. He leaves wife and kid, gets to Roma with a case of books to find Antonio.
Gianni and Luciana live happily and start to have family projects. Gianni is up the ladder, working for the firm as an lawyer. He is asked to defend in court a real estate constructor who found two of his employees dead on a site for not respecting security measures. Gianni refuses the case and the client tells him the office refusal is due to the own problems of the firm’s head, La Rosa, now deputy who is accused of many political and financial misconducts.
They are talking on the subject when Elide, the client’s youngest daughter enters and falls in love instantly of Gianni. She leaves, and the client tries to bribe Gianni so he takes the case. Gianni doesn’t accept nor refuses. Nicola tries to work in Rome as a film critic and attempts to start a magazine, “Cine Culture” but he fails everywhere.
Years later, Antonio and Nicola are having lunch at their usual restaurant when Luciana enters. Antonio is not at ease. Nicola understands it is THE Luciana his friend was in love with but he insists into being introduced, which Antonio reluctantly does. They start talking and Luciana asks about Gianni, who she hasn’t seen in a long time. The news fires Antonio’s hopes.
Later at night, the three of them are drunk and Nicola is playing a reconstitution on the stairs of Piazza di Espagna of the famous Stairs Scene from the Potemkine movie (Eisenstein, 1925), obviously trying to make Luciana laugh. Antonio is sitting alone, down the stairs, deep in his thoughts, smoking. He can’t stand Nicola’s game and argues with Luciana. She says she can do whatever she pleases, including becoming an actress. Antonio leaves, pissed, while Luciana hides in a photomaton and Nicola follows Antonio, trying to calm him down. He fails and returns to Luciana who has left the photomaton, leaving pictures of her where we see she has been crying warm tears.
We All Loved Each Other So Much (Italian: C’eravamo Tanto Amati) is a 1974 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Ettore Scola and written by Scola and the famous screenwriter duo of Age & Scarpelli. It stars Stefania Sandrelli, Nino Manfredi, Vittorio Gassman, Stefano Satta Flores, Giovanna Ralli, Aldo Fabrizi, Elena Fabrizi, Marcella Michelangeli, Ugo Gregoretti and Federico Fellini, among others.
The film won a César Award for Best Foreign Film in 1977. It also won two Silver Ribbons (Italian cinema critics award, for Fabrizi and Ralli) and the Golden Prize in the 9th Moscow International Film Festival in 1975.
We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974)
Directed by: Ettore Scola
Starring: Stefania Sandrelli, Nino Manfredi, Vittorio Gassman, Stefano Satta Flores, Giovanna Ralli, Aldo Fabrizi, Elena Fabrizi, Marcella Michelangeli, Ugo Gregoretti, Federico Fellini
Screenplay by: Age & Scarpelli, Ettore Scola
Production Design by: Luciano Ricceri
Cinematography by: Claudio Cirillo
Film Editing by: Raimondo Crociani
Costume Design by: Luciano Ricceri
Makeup Department: Renata Magnanti
Music by: Armando Trovajoli
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Delta (Italy), AMLF (France), Cinema 5 Distributing (United States)
Release Date: December 21, 1974
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