Love & Slaps [Region 2]

Description

Italy released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: Italian ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), Italian ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Behind the scenes, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: Successful architect Marcello (Sergio Castellitto) has just about everything one could desire: a fine career; a beautiful wife, Marina (Laura Morante), who herself is a successful professional; good friends and a marvelous home in the country. Then one weekend, his daughter comes home with a new boyfriend in tow... Working once again with his wife, the hugely popular novelist Margaret Mazzantini, Castellitto offers a wry updating of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, exploring what may be one of our last social taboos in a dissection of Italy's liberal elite that's as amusing as it is perceptive. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: David Donatello Awards, ...Love & Slaps ( La bellezza del somaro ) ( The Beauty of the Donkey (Love and Slaps) ) Review: May please those with a propensity for excesses - Bellezza del Somaro (2010) from Sergio Castellitto, is an invaluable movie in demonstrating the wisdom, maturity and life-long lessons acquired by people who have aged well, not unlike a great wine ages well, as the years go. Of course, not all wines age well, and not all wines are great young, or old. This film also opens the doors to what goes on behind the scenes, in the lives of psychotherapists who have been in the business for 10 years or longer, as professionals. First, the movie shows the lives of professionals working in the field of psychotherapy, many who get the bucks rolling in with incredible easy, from a business model where the policyholders for insured medical treatments, get it all for free, in a socialized medicine environment that is Europe in general, and Italy in particular. Tens of thousands of Italians each year, receive unlimited psychological support and unlimited treatments, from a tight knit oligarchy of shrinks who make up that medical community, who can't believe their luck, as the treatments don't hinge on the hard-earned euros worked by the patients (who for the most part, are unemployable) but rather, from money-for-nothing billions in Euros in invoices paid by the state treasury, from taxes and State borrowing. This business model results in a massive accumulation of wealth by those MD's, simply for discussing various Freudian theories with patients and among themsleves, and of course, by listening to the verborrhea of many patients. With this hedonistic lifestyle comes all kinds of hangovers, ranging from alcohol to sex, to cultural, etc. With this cash cow, the protagonists make the patients "family" to keep raking in the dollars and euros, taking them along on trips, and special events. Next, the comfort zone of adulthood and maturity, is contrasted with the insecurity, self-doubt, anguish and stresses of youth and young adulthood. In fact, in this movie, the parents and children come short of equaling the judgement and wisdom of the ripe "guest" who is given time and again the opportunity, to impart his personality on everyone else in the household. Finally, a fair bit of comedy, and nonsense is thrown in for good measure, including a donkey, and light-taboos of all kinds, (not raising many eyebrows at this point, in in the 21st century). Overall, this movie may be compared to the contents of a candy store, in that the director and writer has attempted to guarantee that each and every of the 104 minutes are candy-coated, chocolate moments. This may please those with a sweet tooth for massive excesses. On the other hand, for those spectators who are measured, moderate, and conscious of excesses (and abuse), the film turns out to be more depressing than exhilarating, more tedious and amusing, not unlike watching or participating in a binge-eating contest. To some, that is, it is offensive. For others, it's original.