ALLONSANFAN Movie Review

An aging anarchist (Marcello Mastroianni) wants to give up the fight for a comfy rocking chair, but is goaded into action once more by colleagues who fear that fatigue-both individual and collective—is the greatest enemy of revolution. Allonsanfan (sing the title and you've got the opening words of France's national anthem “allons enfants,” or “goodbye children”) is blessed with three distinguishing characteristics: the writing-directing team of Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, and the incomparable Mastroianni. Allonsanfan is one of the Tavianis's least flashy vehicles, and one must assume that the style is designed around their star. Mastroianni embodies the old revolutionary fully and convincingly, and by eschewing much of their usual stylized imagery, the Tavianis have made us a gift of his performance. Indeed, it's unusual to think back on films like Padre Padrone or The Night of the Shooting Stars without the Tavianis's dazzling imagery coming to mind; remembering Allonsanfan, it's Marcello's grizzled, still-innocent face that pops into our minds first, transforming a pretty good picture into a memorable one.

NEXT STOP … Padre Padrone, Fiorile, A Special Day

1973 115m/C IT Marcello Mastroianni, Laura Betti, Renato de Carmine, Lea Massari, Mimsy Farmer, Claudio Cassinelli, Bruno Cirino, Michael Berger; D: Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani; W: Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani; C: Giuseppe Ruzzolini; M: Ennio Morricone. VHS FCT, WBF