su rai Sabato 19/01/2008 da Giorgia Iovane in Fiction italiane, Rai, Serie Tv, Web Ultimo aggiornamento: Venerdì 18/01/2008 21:29

Rai.tv, il canale multimediale della Tv di Stato, scava nel suo passato e ripropone al giovane pubblico del web una serie davvero storica, Giovanni e Elviruccia, fiction del 1969 con Paolo Panelli e Bice Valori, una delle coppie più affiatate e brillanti dello spettacolo italiano. In alto uno sketch di Paolo Panelli tratto da Teatro 10. Sposatisi nel 1952, il sodalizio amoroso e professionale di Bice Valori e Paolo Panelli ha attraversato la storia del teatro, del cinema e della tv italiana: dalle commedie musicali ai memorabili sketch tv, la loro mimica e i dialoghi serrati hanno accompagnato generazioni di italiani dagli anni ’50 fino alla fine degli anni ’70.
Ora la Rai ripropone in esclusiva web, su Rai.tv, una loro serie nella quale interpretano una coppia, quella di Giovanni ed Elviruccia appunto, impegnata nel condurre, tra una battuta e l’altra, il proprio mènage familiare. La prima puntata, on line da ieri, ruota intorno al primo incontro tra Giovanni, organizzatore di spettacoli cinematografici, ed Elviruccia: un incontro tragicomico che avviene durante una proiezione all’aperto funestata dal maltempo e che segnerà le loro vite. La serie fu diretta dallo stesso Panelli, mentre soggetto e sceneggiatura portano la firma di Suso Cecchi D’Amico. Addirittura un futuro premio Oscar realizzò le musiche, ovvero Ennio Morricone. Prepariamoci a godere questo frammento di tv d’antan, fatta di idee a volte molto semplici ma sempre ben realizzate. Nel frattempo, un altro video con uno degli sketch più famosi con la Valori protagonista, nel ruolo della centralinista della Rai Tv. （Here)

Giovanni è un organizzatore di spettacoli cinematografici itinerantu in giro per la Maremma. Nel corso di un tragicomica proiezione all'aperto funestata dalla pioggia conosce Elviruccia e da quel momento i loro destini si incrociano. (Here )

Summary of the film: 1969 Italy film (TV Series, total 4 episodes). Director Paolo Panelli, starring Paolo Panelli, Bice Valori,Giuseppe Bergantini, total length 200 minutes. In the 1950s, Giovanni was the organizer of a traveling film show. once when they show a tragicomedy movie in the outdoor,suddenly encountered a storm attack,there he met Elviruccia.Since then, their fate began to cross together. Their real life just is like the tragicomedy movie,recorded the change and development of history of Italian drama, film and Italy TV in the last century 50's to 70's, showing an unforgettable sketch from the musical theater age to the television age.

(User Reviews in IMDB) interesting and spotty set of films...for art cinema fans only.

spotty collection of shorts by 5 directors. some are intriguing, others are just plain tedious. let's go through them in order.

the first short is a merging of two stories about women being violated. they're two different narratives that are combined to tell the story of a woman in danger and then being saved. the first one starts off with a man chasing a woman through the city with lots of shots of indifferent people in their appartments doing their everyday thing. there are several shots of appartment buildings that gives a sense that this women is utterly helpless, she is lost in a world of concrete buildings that don't give any heed to her cries for help. cut to a different story about a guy trying to rescue a woman from a car accident, which seems like it was from another american tv show.

the second one is one by bertolocchi (spelling?) and is the most tedious of them all. weird artsy dancing, montage poses and strange noises emitting from these dancers. at first you think this place is a weird therapy session cuz the dancers look like they were pulled off hte street and they sit in a circle chanting something. then they do these weird moves with lots of moaning and groaning and incoherent mutterings. i think the segment of this session is called agony, so i guess these people are doing artsy interpretations of agony. then an old man comes a long, who's dying and all these people start dancing around him. this one runs on for about 20 minutes...20 minutes i'll never get back.

the third one is one about a man running through the streets. various shots of streets with various political images superimposed on top. i don't know what a lot of these images are, but i deduct they're about the vietnam war and other various political wars around the world. then occasionally, this man has a huge flower in his hands and he starts to dance in the streets to this happy dated italien pop music. it's these scenes that put a smile on my face cuz it's just so rediculous and fun to watch.

the 4th short film is by Jean luc godard. i've seen many godard films and this is a very typical godard film. you've got a couple...the girl is jewish and the guy is arabic. he kisses her, carass her naked body and talks in a way only godard characters do...a mixture of musings on love and politics. intercut with another couple who talk about the film that they're in. saying things like...."what's that over there?" "why, i think it's the opening of a film..." "i think they're gonna break up..." "if they break up, the film will be over..." etc. i have a general understanding of what godard's references and what he is talking about, so it doesn't feel as tedious to me as it would to others. but still......those who don't have a bit of academic background in film...you'd most likely like to keep away from this.

the last film is one about a debate going on in a university as a group of marxist students interupt a class to debate about marxist ideology and general anarchy against the university system. these students want a marxist revolution and a overthrow of the general university system. the dean, proffessor and the students in the class call for reform from inside the system. and there goes on a debate between change within the system vs. overthrowing the system. this discussion actually captivated me, despite the fact that this is pretty dated politics. this film being released in 1969, this is obviously a depiction of the kinds of political debates between students and institutions around 1968. where university students basically rioted and demostrated for a fairer university system and rejected old institutions while embracing marxism. for those who have an interest in the political demostrations of 1968 in europe, this film documents this point in time pretty well. it's clear that the film maker is on the side of the marxist students with the final shot of the film.

so what can you say over all about this collection of short films? overall, it's mostly a political film, especially with the last three stories and the credits rolling with the sound of dull thuds of foam bats beating people symbolizing police brutality. i think this film has a very specific film audience...either young students in the late 1960s (this audience obviously no longer exists), people who have an interest in any of the directors here or people who are interested in the history of 1968 and want to see an artistic representation of it. to everyone else, you've been warned. it's a collection of artsy political films you'd probably wouldn't want to watch. (User Reviews in IMDB)

The film is composed of episodes that deal with some of the themes present in Jesus' parables and anecdotes of the canonical gospels. These issues, however, are reproduced in the present from their directors.

Segments

A man is suffering from road, badly injured. Passers do not deign to look at him, and continue walking on their way. The episode is taken from Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan.
Agony

A bishop is ill and about to die. Before he dies, the man has a vision of God, who tells him that his life has been misspent. The bishop realizes that he spent his life not properly respecting the gospel, but now it is too late.
The sequence of the paper flower

A beautiful smiling guy's walking on the streets of a city, bringing with him a large poppy paper. The boy is the goodness and innocence of youth, which is soon cut short by human wickedness. Indeed, while the merry boy is walking, the episode shows the evil done by man during the Second World War. At the end of the story, the boy is struck by lightning from the sky and dies, guilty of having been in his life a happy person and a good neighbor.
Love

A woman and a man're arguing with each other. They represent democracy and the people's revolution that can not get along, although their ideas are similar.
We tell, tell

A group of young guys occupies a university. Young people are fighters student revolution of the Sixties, and now that they have in hand the building, the guys begin to argue among themselves, bringing new ideas and changes. However, they do nothing but talk nonsense, not changing anything in society. (WIKI)

After arriving in Paris, Lucille buys an Austin Princess luxury car and sets about planning her revenge while continuing her lavish spending on designer clothing and food. Uncomfortable being alone, she invites a stranger named Francois (Maurice Ronet), a marine salvage expert, to have a romantic lunch with her at the Eiffel Tower. When Lucille reveals her intentions to end her life later that week, Francois shows genuine concern for her and states that he will not allow it—that he'll not leave her side. Lucille manages to elude him after lunch and he is unable to follow. In the coming days, Fran?ois desperately tries to locate her as she continues her spending spree on fine clothes and expensive food and champagne while waiting for her ex-boyfriend to arrive in Paris.

While posing as a Swiss journalist, Lucille becomes entangled with a New York News correspondent named John Bert (Claudio Brook), a shady Spaniard named Alberto de Villalonga (Albert Simono), and the drug-addled manager, Tom Sturges (Gérard Lartigau), of an English rock group named The Timothys who just appeared at London's Royal Albert Hall. She goes on a series of dates, continuing her extravagant spending during her final days. Meanwhile, Fran?ois continues his desperate search for the woman he believes will kill herself on Friday. After receiving no help from the police, he tracks down all the Austin Princess owners in Paris, thinking it will lead him to Lucille. Despairing on not finding her, he resigns himself to his work, which involves a lucrative new salvage operation in Venezuela that will make him wealthy (from the shady Spaniard Alberto as it turns out).

On Thursday night, Lucille wanders the streets of Paris alone. A man approaches her, mistaking her for a prostitute, and she goes back to his place to have sex, later giving away the 300 francs she was paid. On Friday, Lucille meets Julien at the Paris-Orly Airport pretending she has a wealthy investor who can buy back the company that Julien now owns. Interested in the deal, Julien accompanies her to her hotel room where she pulls her gun, demanding that she accompany him to his appointment in Chantilly. Intending to kill them both in an auto accident, Lucille has second thoughts just as they are about to crash into an electrical pole. "You disgust me so much that it will save your life," she tells him, as she leaves at the roadside and drives away.

Back in Paris, Fran?ois spots Lucille's Austin Princess by chance and follows her to the Eiffel Tower, where she intends to end her life. At the top, Lucille considers jumping, but something prevents her. When Francois arrives at the top, he finds her eating dessert in the restaurant where they enjoyed their romantic lunch, and they smile at each other.（WIKI)