Taglines: A many splendored thing.
We All Loved Each Other So Much movie storyline. Stefania Sandrelli, a bit player in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, stars in the deliberately Felliniesque comedy We All Loved Each Other So Much. Sandrelli plays the longtime object of three friends’ affections.
The film traces the interrelationships of those friends-Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi and Satta Flores-over a period of thirty years, beginning with their involvement in the wartime Resistance. In addition to freely quoting from La Dolce Vita, director Ettore Scola also calculatedly evokes memories of Fellini’s I Vitteloni. As a bonus, the film offers affectionate homages to several other neorealist filmmakers, including Rossellini and de Sica.
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, Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi, Stefano Satta Flores and Aldo Fabrizi, among others.
About the Story
Gianni, Antonio and Nicola were resistance fighters (La Resistenza) 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 belongs to the Popular Front. Gianni entered as an assistant in a law firm, the head of which, La Rosa, is running as a deputy candidate for the Socialist Party. Nicola returned to teaching 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 of the life in La Resistenza. Luciana and Gianni do not really listen to him, as they fall in love in silence with each other. 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 do not 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”, referring to Gianni’s political incline.
Around the same period, Nicola is losing his teaching job after a violent argument with his superior about the movie Ladri di Biciclette (Vittorio de Sica, 1948). His wife is desperate, and asks him to apologize to get back his job, which he will not. He leaves wife and child, gets to Roma with a case of books to find Antonio.
Gianni and Luciana live happily and start to have family projects. Gianni is climbing up the ladder, working for the firm as a lawyer. He is asked to defend in court a real estate constructor who had two of his employees die on a site for not respecting security measures. Gianni refuses the case, telling the client that refusal is due to the problems of the firm’s head, La Rosa, now a 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 does not accept nor refuses.
We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974)
Directed by: Ettore Scola
Starring: Stefania Sandrelli, Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi, Stefano Satta Flores, Aldo Fabrizi, Giovanna Ralli, Federico Fellini, Marcello Mastroianni, Marcella Michelangeli
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
Music by: Armando Trovajoli
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Image Entertainment
Release Date: December 21, 1974
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