The Easy Life movie storyline. Bruno Cortona and Roberto Mariani meet by chance as Roberto helps Bruno one day while everything is closed in Rome for the holiday weekend. The two men could not be more different. Thirty-six year old Bruno is extroverted, a man who seizes opportunities as they arise, is an excitement seeker, has never really grown up, but is a person to who many are drawn because of his exuberance and masculine good looks.
Law student Roberto is introverted, controlled and so unsure of himself that he doesn’t really know why he chose law as a career and is afraid not only to let the girl who lives across the way from him, Valeria, know that he likes her, but even to speak to her. He even has a photograph of her in his wallet that he took clandestinely. Roberto reluctantly gets caught up in the whirlwind of Bruno’s last minute change in plans for the holidays as the two head off together in Bruno’s Lancia Aurelia sports car, their joy ride which will be largely at Bruno’s whim.
That reluctance is because Roberto would rather stay at home to study for an exam a few weeks away. Roberto tries to ditch Bruno at every stop, he however afraid to tell Bruno the truth that he’d rather not be with him. But as their time together progresses, they each learn a little more about the other, with Roberto in particular beginning to understand how stultified his life has been. The question becomes whether Roberto and Bruno can find that good balance in their lives because of their time with the other.
The Easy Life (Il Sorpasso in Italian) is a 1962 Italian cult comedy film co-written and directed by Dino Risi and starring Vittorio Gassman, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Catherine Spaak. It is considered Risi’s masterpiece and one of the best examples of Commedia all’italiana film genre.
About the Story
The film starts in a hazy, sun-baked and seemingly empty Rome on an August morning during Ferragosto national holiday. A young, timid law student, Roberto (Trintignant), gazing out his window, is asked for trivial favor, a phone call, by a 40-ish man named Bruno (Gassman), who is passing on the street below at the wheel of a convertible Lancia Aurelia.
The young man tells him to come up and make the call himself. After Bruno fails to contact his friends — he is running a full hour late for his meeting with them, something he apparently doesn’t deem a good motive enough for them to have “abandoned” him— he insists on repaying Roberto’s courtesy with an aperitivo. Tired of studying for the day and falling prey to Bruno’s enthusiasm, the young man accepts.
Thus begins a cruise along the Via Aurelia, the Roman road that also gives the name to Bruno’s beloved car. Roberto is unwilling or unable to part from this casual acquaintance despite having almost nothing in common with him. Bruno is loud, brash, risk taking, a bit coarse and a braggart, to boot. He drives recklessly, speeding and constantly attempting “il Sorpasso” — the impatient and aggressive practice of serial tailgating and honking to overtake other cars on the road. But he is also charming and likable. And Roberto, being his complete opposite, feels drawn to Bruno’s impulsive, devil-may-care attitude.
Over two days of highs and lows across the coasts of Lazio and Tuscany, the two men fall into various adventures while gradually managing to learn something of each other. When, for example, the duo spontaneously drops in on Roberto’s relatives, en route, the young law student suddenly realizes that his childhood wasn’t as golden as he’d always imagined. And later he finds out about Bruno’s failed marriage and young daughter, revealing a life not nearly as carefree as Bruno pretends to lead.
The Easy Life (1962)
Directed by: Dino Risi
Starring: Vittorio Gassman, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Linda Sini, Catherine Spaak, Luciana Angiolillo, Bruna Simionato, Mila Stanic, Lilly Darelli, Nando Angelini, Annette Stroyberg
Screenplay by: Rodolfo Sonego
Production Design by: Ugo Pericoli
Cinematography by: Alfio Contini
Film Editing by: Maurizio Lucidi
Costume Design by: Ugo Pericoli
Makeup Department: Gustavo Sisi
Music by: Riz Ortolani
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Incei Film (1962) (Italy), Embassy Pictures (USA)
Release Date: December 6, 1962 (Italy), December 22, 1963 (U.S.)
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