News on Prime Video: How much is Ferrari, a biopic with Adam Driver worth?

What is it about?

It is the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle of Formula 1, former racing driver Enzo Ferrari is in crisis. The factory he and his wife Laura built from scratch ten years ago is facing bankruptcy.

Their volatile marriage was shaken by the loss of their son Dino a year earlier. Ferrari tries to identify his son Piero with Lina Lardis. Meanwhile, its drivers’ passion for victory pushes them to the limit as they embark on a dangerous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the Mille Miglia.

Ferrari, a film by Kennedy-Martin and David Rayfield, directed by Michael Mann with Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley..

who is he with

To play Enzo Ferrari, Michael Mann is targeting Adam Driver, who creates a man who does nothing by halves. For example, he tells his racers that they must be ready to die in order to win in the name of the Ferrari brand.

He equates race with war, which makes sense to him because Italy and its people are still reeling from the trauma of World War II.

The film opens with Enzo leaving the bed of Lena Lard (Shailene Woodley), whom he met during the war and with whom he fathered a child. He pulls the car off the road so as not to wake them, before rushing to his wife, Laura Ferrari (Penelope Cruz), who is enraged and points a gun at her husband.

In a less important role, but in a fun wink, we find a peroxidized Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy) as Piero Taruff, one of Ferrari’s elite racers. We know the actor’s passion for car racing, he took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jack O’Connell also plays a driver for the Ferrari team.

Is it worth checking out?

Contrary to what one might think, Michael Mann most often pulls the laps of a Ferrari, but when he gets behind the wheel, onlookers are in for a treat. The Mille Miglia race is full of madness and unexpected events that show how dangerous this passion is.

The racers crash, then get into each other’s cars and leave the wreckage. Thousands of people take turns rallying against common sense.

But it seems that all of Italy is stopping for this massive competition. This race also includes one of the most poignant and shocking scenes in Michael Mann’s filmography and promises to stay on the viewer’s retinas for a long time.

Mann brilliantly gives us an idea of ​​how exciting and addictive running can be before pulling the rug out from under us to show us how things can change at any moment.

Enzo is intimate

But Ferrari is a two-headed film because it spends almost as much time focusing on Enzo’s loves: Lina, who he wants to be with and who wants to name their child after her, and Laura, who is both brilliant and terrifying. which he still feels a certain passion for.

Shailene Woodley as Lina has the unfortunate task of playing the most caring and least dynamic of these love interests. But he makes the most of what he’s given, even if he sometimes forgets his Italian accent.

We’re opening brackets here, but the choice to have actors play Italian-accented English – like in The New Look, but with a French accent – has something disturbing and dated.

The actual performance of the film

The driver is very good as a Ferrari, able to play with heart one moment, then control and power the next. But Ferrari’s real strength lies in one performance: Penelope Cruz, who dominates every scene she plays. A veritable storm of electricity, grief, anger, jealousy and absolute power.

Despite Enzo’s power, Laura knows how to use influence. He is the real brain that keeps the company going, even when his actions may seem shocking.

Penelope Cruz’s performance is not only the film’s strong point, it’s also probably the best performance of her English-language career (all the films she’s made with Pedro Almodovar are unattainable masterpieces).

A consuming passion

Enzo’s challenge throughout the film is primarily to try to avoid bankruptcy. The company does not produce enough cars and needs external financing or it will go bankrupt.

While Ferrari complains that its rivals – especially Maserati – want to race just to sell cars, it says it sells cars to race.

Enzo has only one goal left: to win the Mille Miglia with his team of drivers. Struggling in business, his prospects of winning are doubtful, and he is torn between Lina and Laura, Ferrari Captures a period of Enzo’s life that is integral not only to his personal life, but to the world of racing and cars in general.

Two films in one, but two successful films.

Ferrari Available on Prime Video