‘Il Sorpasso’ or — Anti-Antonioni?
VROOM!
It’s Rome in August and timid law student Roberto (Jean-Louis Trintigant) is studying for an important exam when his peace is rudely interrupted by a complete stranger who loudly rocks up outside Roberto’s apartment in his Lancia Aurelia convertible and shouts up asking if Roberto can make a phone call for him. Roberto has no idea who the hell this guy, some cocky dude in his early forties, is but invites him up anyway.
Turns out the guy is called Bruno (Vittorio Gassman) and now Bruno has entered Roberto’s apartment, and by extension Roberto’s life, it seems it’s going to be impossible escape Bruno’s irresistible pull and, before long, Bruno and Roberto are zooming about the Italian countryside, overtaking every vehicle on the road, noising up everyone they meet and ignoring every rule they encounter. How is Roberto going to extricate himself from this pain in the ass? Or maybe there’ll be an ultimate removal imposed on Roberto from without?
So ‘Il Sorpasso’ (1962) is a ‘road movie’ and one with no clear destination. It’s about the thrill of putting the pedal to the metal, moving fast and seeing, or not caring, where you end up. As these two men-child blast through the countryside they encounter all aspects of Italian life, and this is Italy during the Economic Miracle where the nation was swinging to the sounds of pop music, dressing like Sophia Loren and dear god, isn’t life wonderful!
Bruno is the embodiment of all this, fully embracing life and not giving a damn about the consequences. He can’t stand the movies of Michelangelo Antonioni and all that excessive Italian alienation. Instead Bruno wants contact, people and pleasure. This also means Bruno is a total asshole, always hitting (unsuccessfully) on every passing woman, mocking the yokel locals, stirring up trouble, shooting his mouth off, driving like a maniac as well as being somewhat homophobic (or is this a cover?) and seemingly a casual racist to boot. He also loves fish soup. Yet Bruno’s biggest problem, at least for us, is that he’s also incredibly charming and fun to be with.
Roberto, on the other hand, is a buttoned-up moper who even keeps his shirt and shoes on at the beach whilst struggling to speak to any woman he likes. He also minces his words meaning Bruno, for all his faults (of which he has MANY) at least feels like a breath of fresh air.
This is best illustrated during one of their few moments of rest when they visit Roberto’s Uncle and family in the countryside where Bruno, in only a few minutes, completely assesses the hypocrisy of the entire clan, calls them all out on it and is even congratulated for doing so! It’s a very funny scene. Then again, ‘Il Sorpasso’ is a very funny movie throughout with the jokes coming at you with the speed of an accelerating Lancia, the punch-lines often zooming past in a blur. At one point Bruno tells Roberto that studying law history is too boring and that, instead, Roberto should study ‘Space Law’ so that Roberto knows who should pay when two spaceships collide. I’d like to study Space Law.
Although events do calm down somewhat when we unexpectedly drop in on some people who shed a little more light on Bruno’s past allowing Roberto, and us, to glimpse something of the man underneath all the bravado. It helps keep Bruno sympathetic, no matter how pathetic he might be.
Director Dino Risi was, at one point, studying to become a psychiatrist before entering film and this surprisingly nuanced and “realisitc” approach to the characters’ psyches results in a comedy that, despite all the frivolity, has quite a bit of depth to it. What starts out with a tone as frothy as the head of a cappuccino gradually reveals itself to be functioning on a sophisticated psychological level. Nobody is short-changed in terms of their humanity, everyone is fully respected and this fills ‘Il Sorpasso’ with a huge amount of life and vérité. A perfect example of this is during the twist near the end, and I mean the literal Twist the dance, as the camera hovers, capturing young and old alike at the beach as they all dance with zero self-consciousness to Italian pop music. It all just feels so… so… alive!
‘Il Sorpasso’s camera work is outstanding throughout. Not only does the Italian countryside, the motorways, the beaches all look ravishing in all their black and white beauty but the way the camera moves, especially when Bruno and Roberto are driving, is captivating and technically impressive. There’s also a sublime moment where the camera pans to, identifies, then follows back a puff of exhaled cigarette smoke then was so quick and subtle my eyes almost popped out on stalks when it happened. The film also has a kick-ass score that’s filled with catchy pop songs whilst Bruno’s annoying Lancia car-horn frequently punctuates the jazzy soundtrack with its hideous blast.
‘Il Sorpasso’ is, not surprisingly, hailed as the original inspiration for Dennis Hopper’s ‘Easy Rider’ (1969), except ‘Il Sorpasso’ is the vastly superior film containing everything — psychological depth, interesting camera-work, good acting, a strong script, rounded characters, a compelling story, nuance, humanity, meaning — that ‘Easy Rider’ lacks and demonstrating, in comparison, just what a shallow movie Hopper’s work actually is. So leave the Harley’s at the roadside and get into a Lancia instead. Trust me; the ride is so much better.
