“I don’t think of a 13-year-old in Pennsylvania watching movies on a cell phone”: Nani Moretti makes movies on the big screen

Palme d’Or in 2001 for The Son’s Room and Best Director Award for The Diary in 1994, Nanni Moretti is a Cannes regular. Two years after entering the Tre Piani competition, it makes sense that he returns with his new film Vers un avenir radiant.

1956 year

And for his return to the Croisette, he abandons the drama to deliver a comedy with a bitter and willingly melancholic tone. In Vers un avenir radiant, he plays a director working on a project about the Italian Communist Party in the 1950s, and is particularly interested in the year 1956, which was marked by the brutal repression of emancipation movements. Countries that obey Moscow.

Especially difficult financing soon threatens the filming. The fault lies entirely with its producer, the great cinephile Margulin, who interprets Mathieu Amalric in excellent form. For the director, the road of the cross begins in search of reliable producers. And as if the obstacles weren’t enough, his wife (Margarita Bai, a regular at Moretti’s cinema) decides to leave him. Over the years, he could no longer stand the foil of the director, and his psychoticism only widened the gap between the spouses.

The Netflix moment

Looking ahead to a bright future, and as usual, Moretti talks about it as much as politics, this time cultural. And the conclusion is harsh to say the least. Witness this meeting with Netflix executives who offer to finance the project with a few tweaks that really don’t sit well with the creator. The platform is especially waiting for the moment “what the hell” In the film, our hero was left speechless. The scene is comical, but Moretti still makes a clear point, as he confirmed at the film’s press conference.

I am constantly thinking about writing scripts, making films, thinking about cinemas.

“Of course, I didn’t want to adopt a fictional name like Starflix. I’m talking about Netflix. And Netflix, in this movie, represents all the networks. It’s not just Netflix, there’s Amazon, Disney, etc. One thing that What I don’t like is that a lot of directors, a lot of screenwriters, rely obediently on platforms, and as far as I’m concerned, you have to continue to invest in cinema emotionally, psychologically, but also economically. It’s not just what I think, it’s what I live. When I think of making a movie, I don’t think of a 13-year-old in Pennsylvania watching movies on her cell phone while filming. Subway. No, I make a movie. I mean a movie theater, dark, where audiences come to see pictures much bigger than themselves. I think about writing screenplays, making movies. About directing, thinking about cinemas.”

Electric scooter

time sign Moretti He replaced his famous Vespa with an electric scooter to hit the streets. But that’s the only concession the filmmaker makes here to modernity. For the rest, we find intact his love of cinema, his taste for nostalgia and his passion for Italian popular song with which he fills the film, even going so far as to dare to choreograph certain tunes. The result is a miracle of elegance.

Early retirement in ’69?

If the director, not yet seventy, has lost his bite, he is disillusioned with a world he understands little of and from which he no longer expects much. As such, the final scene is eloquent, showing a merry parade where familiar faces from Moretti’s films appear (Jasmine Trinka, Rohrwacher…). The music is catchy, the smile is generous, but the farewell sign that the screenwriter addresses to the audience leaves one in doubt. Could this be the end? The title of the film looks like a rather bitter antiphrase. Not so bright after all, the future.

to a bright future It will be released in French cinemas on June 28, 2023.