La voglia matta

One weekend Antonio Berlinghieri, a forty-year-old industrialist from Milan, is driving his Alfa Romeo Spider to Pisa to see his son. On the way Antonio encounters a (saucy) sixteen-year-old, Francesca, who asks him for some gas for her friends’ car, which has broken down. Partly for fun and partly because he is attracted to Francesca, Antonio joins up with the group of teenagers, who invite him to spend Sunday with them in a chalet by the sea. Here Antonio tries to bridge somehow the differences in mentality and tastes due to age, but finds himself always on the brink of ridicule. Deep down the businessman is prey to bourgeois hypocrisy and struggles to understand the uninhibited behavior of these youngsters, although at the same time he is fascinated by it. On the other hand, Francesca too finds it hard to take him seriously, wavering between compassion and mockery: she is flattered by the agitation she stirs in Antonio, but prefers her fellow teenagers. She allows the man a moment of intimacy, at night, on the beach. Then, at dawn, she sets off with her friends. Left alone, befuddled and with his heart full of bitterness, Antonio resumes his journey to Pisa.

Then there was La voglia matta with Spaak, who had been discovered by Lattuada for I dolci inganni but the movie had not been released owing to problems with the censors, and she became known, indeed famous, with mine. I even altered the screenplay so that the similarity between her and the character would be greater. La voglia matta is of note too, I believe, for its invention of the young as a subject, new for the cinema of the time.

PRODUCTION: D.D.L., Lux Film

RESTORATION CURATED BY: CSC-Cineteca Nazionale
via Tuscolana 1524
00173 – Roma, Italia
Tel. +39 06722941
csc@cert.fondazionecsc.it
http://www.fondazionecsc.it

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH: Compass Film srl
Via Nicola Ricciotti, 11
00195 – Roma, Italia
compassfilm@hotmail.it

LABORATORY: Studio Cine

WORLD SALES: Nicole Libassi, Lorena Libassi
compassfilm@hotmail.it
l.libassicompassfilm@hotmail.com

ITALIAN DISTRIBUTION: Compass Film srl
Via Luigi Settembrini, 30
00195 – Roma, Italy
Tel. +39 063211549
compassfilm@hotmail.it

PRESS OFFICE: Gabriele Barcaro – CSC-Cineteca Nazionale
gabriele.barcaro@gmail.com