meeting with the cast of Simone Godano’s ensemble comedy

Arrives at the cinema on May 1st with 01Distribution, Six brothersthe fourth film by Simone Godanowho wrote it together with Luca Infascelli and he chose a slightly more ambitious theme and tone than his previous works, which oscillate between comedy and emotional drama. Above all, it is a truly choral film, with a more European than Italian flavour, which takes inspiration from a ploy often used in cinema but which also occurs in reality. Upon the death of their charismatic but unreliable and very absent father, five brothers from three different mothers come together, two of them French, who have not spoken to each other for years or in any case have not seen each other and who discover from the notary who takes care of their parent’s inheritance that they have also a sixth sister. Forced to live for a period in the same house with their problems, guilt and resentments, waiting to decide what to do with their father’s failing legacy, they will learn a lot about themselves and others and will end up getting closer, even without an obvious final reconciliation. Presenting the film to the press this morning, in addition to the director and producers, were all the protagonists: Riccardo Scamarcio, Adriano GIannini, Valentina Bellé, Linda Caridi, Gabriel MontesiThe French Claire Romain (next protagonist of the long-awaited live action series Cat eyes) And Mati Galey, and naturally Joel Dix, who plays the father and opens and closes the film. Filmed between Olgiata and Bordeaux, where the story is set, it is produced by Greenland and it was apparently a tiring but beautiful experience for the director and the actors.

For Let them enjoy it’s “a film about universal human relationships, I liked to delve into it in the humanity of these characters, to do it with a story that balances between hidden and expressed feelings, a choice that we made upstream with Luca. Imagine a director who has to make a film with 8 actors always on stage, with all their troubles, their beliefs and their foibles. With each actor there is a different approach, think about managing them when maybe in a day they have half a line, so I made the choice to be with the camera with them, to always keep them alive. As a director I also experienced this film in a laborious way but when the lights came on at the end of the screening for the actors and I saw their faces, I understood that they did not have an overall vision but an emotional vision and when I saw their reaction I understood that, as far as we who made it were concerned, it was a successful film.”

Riccardo Scamarcio he plays the successful brother, a journalist and TV host frustrated because he would like to do more serious and political programs, who doesn’t talk to his brother Leo (Gabriel Montesi) since she married his ex-girlfriend 15 years earlier. Scamarcio says that he immediately realized, when reading the script, that there was something new in the writing, and that he was intrigued by these six brothers who talk to each other, a situation not typical of our comedies but more reminiscent of French ones. “For me” – he adds – it was the possibility as an actor to maintain realism, but each of us bringing our own character that has an independent path, but connected with the others. For me this aspect is totally successful, all the events are credible, it happens in a very natural way, thanks to the skill of Luca, Simone and my colleagues. We looked at each other straight away, think about what it means to have 8 actors in a room, it’s not exactly an easy thing to manage them, there are also lines outside the scene, while you wait between one take and another, but for that As far as I’m concerned, it was a wonderful experience.” For Valentina Bellé we are in a historical moment in which “we are re-evaluating the concept of family, as Michela Murgia understood it, the family you choose beyond biological ties. But in the biological family the need remains, the desire to be loved regardless of everything “.

Simone Godano, to which the “hysterical families” of Muccino’s films are mentioned, he does not find many similarities, because, he says, “this is a different story, made up more of small things, hidden things, there are conflicts, but… everyone in life we tend towards happiness, wealth, health, simple things but we also need to have someone close to us, like the characters in the film. We treated everything in a realistic way, for this reason also the choice of the ending with the voice-over of Gioele Dix The judgment will be made by the public but for me cinema needs strong stories that we can identify with. We all play a role that we are afraid of taking away from ourselves and from others. In the final bathroom scene, the penultimate day of filming , a real parallel has been created between history and reality, especially in France. I attach myself very much to the actors, for example I imagined Scamarcio’s character as much more “up” and brilliant, he proposed another interpretation that adds a touch. emotional and human level that enriches it, you can’t help but accept suggestions like that.”

Adriano Giannini for his brothers he is “Gandhi”, “he is the brother who is entrusted with the role of the good, who tries to mediate conflicts and acts as a glue, but he is unresolved even if he seems the quietest and has a very interesting twist. For but this is a film different from many things seen in recent years, for the style, the photography, the shots, the editing, the music, the choice of actors generally seen in dramatic roles for a comedy, it was a very personal experience funny, I needed a bit of lightness after two heavy roles, in a happily ensemble film.” Joel Dix it is the father who dies at the beginning of the film but whose voice returns twice, to open and close: “Simone offered me this role, as they generally say to console the actor, small but very important. I have I have the experience of cabaret and I know how important openness is, so we discussed a lot about a character who had to leave a mark. And in fact he comes back to speak, to tell, with his voice and with voice messages of three children not had with the same mother and my children experience my absence with difficulty, this film made me think about feelings of guilt and how much a father can weigh even when he is not there, like Telemachus who goes in search of a father he doesn’t know. It worries me a little when my children see it.”

The young man Mati Galey he talks about his real family, in excellent Italian, and makes a surprising revelation: “I have a father who is 75 years old and I am an only child on my mother’s side, but in 2016 I discovered that I had a 50-year-old sister. For me it is a little difficult to communicate, I did the first scene with RIccardo and my character has an evolution. I discovered a slightly crazy family but I love it, I feel closer to this family than to mine, it was a ‘beautiful experience’.

For the very good Claire Romainwho plays the sister of Maty’s character, adopted by everyone’s father, the main problem was losing the Spanish accent, deriving from the fact that she lived in Spain for years and to communicate with Italians she says she did it in that language , and she is also enthusiastic about the experience she had with Six brothers. As Gabriel Montesiwho underlines how the film makes us reflect on the themes of distance and closeness and talks about his character as very tragicomic. Linda Caridiwho we always see with great pleasure, plays Giorgia, wife of Scamarcio’s character and ex-girlfriend of Montesi’s, as well as the lawyer who assists them in their decisions and underlines the “invisible structure created by the screenplay and the direction, of which we were It is a comedy with an elegant character, with its own fluidity, of great cinematic charm. Giorgia serves to rekindle the fire of their conflict. There is a disillusionment, a tiredness in her and she realizes that she moves forward by inertia and understands that there is something important that he left behind.”

The topics discussed at the press conference were many and interesting. If you want to know more, all you have to do is go to the cinema on May 1st to see Six brothers and it is not unlikely that you will recognize yourself in some characters or in family dynamics which are not, as we know, always painless.