Three partisans bound by a strong friendship return home after the war, but the clash with everyday reality puts a strain on their bond.
Ratings
Curator score: 9.5/10
IMDb: 8.0/10
Letterboxd: 4.29/5
TMDB: 8.3/10
Director
Ettore Scola
Production
Deantir
Cast
Nino Manfredi, Vittorio Gassman, Stefania Sandrelli, Stefano Satta Flores, Giovanna Ralli, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcella Michelangeli, Elena Fabrizi, Fiammetta Baralla, Isa Barzizza, Livia Cerini, Carla Mancini, Lorenzo Piani, Marcello Mastroianni, Mike Bongiorno, Federico Fellini, Aristide Caporale, Dino Curcio, Amedeo Fabrizi, Alberto Postorino
Curator Review
Verdict
A major Italian postwar epic that blends comedy, melancholy, romance, and political memory into a deeply human portrait of friendship and compromise. It is funny, wistful, and formally elegant, with a strong sense of how private lives get reshaped by history.
Best for
Fans of Italian cinema and commedia all'italiana
Viewers who like bittersweet ensemble dramas
People interested in postwar European history and social change
Fans of films about friendship, idealism, and disillusionment
Skip if
You want a fast, plot-driven movie
You dislike tonal shifts between comedy and sadness
You prefer minimal historical context
You are not in the mood for a reflective, talky ensemble piece
Overview
Ettore Scola turns a story of three friends into a sweeping meditation on Italy after the war. What begins with camaraderie and shared ideals gradually becomes a study of compromise, disappointment, and the stubborn persistence of memory. The film’s emotional range is wide, but it never feels scattered; every comic detour feeds the larger sense of lives being nudged off course by history and by their own weaknesses.
Worth noting
The performances are a major part of the film’s appeal, especially in the way the ensemble balances warmth, vanity, frustration, and self-delusion. Scola’s style is graceful and observant, moving between intimate scenes and broader social commentary without losing the human core. There is a real affection for cinema itself here, but also a clear-eyed understanding of how nostalgia can blur the truth.
Bottom line
It is both generous and unsentimental, which is why it lingers. The film captures the feeling that people can love each other deeply and still fail one another, and that the passage of time can turn political hope into private regret. For viewers open to a richly layered, old-world tragicomedy, it is essential viewing.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Rikhter · 761 likes
Le cose più amare della vita:
3. Il cacao 99%2. La dichiarazione dei redditi1. La commedia all'italiana
Gaetano Cardozo (5★) · 738 likes
There's a character in here who can't succeed in life because he keeps arguing against other people's opinions in films and throwing trivia facts about Bicycle Thieves nobody asked for.
1000000/100
federica · 536 likes
Piuttosto che inseguire un'improbabile felicità è meglio preparare qualche piacevole ricordo per il futuro.
C'è qualcosa di terribilmente universale nel modo in cui Scola riesce a raccontare quattro diversi archi narrativi così specifici: la malinconia delle piccole tradizioni in una società che si muove a ritmi impossibili da decifrare, la frustrazione del potenziale mal sfruttato, la lotta con se stessi già persa in partenza, le false convinzioni di poter (e potersi) creare un mondo diverso e una dimensione personale schiacciate… more
Evasive (4★) · 469 likes
RIP Nicola Palumbo you would've loved Letterboxd dot com
elena (3.5★) · 413 likes
Spaghetto, gran consolatore di ogni pena. Pure dell’amore. Specie quando non ci sta.