It is hard to understand that the first images are not those of a reality show.

Instead, we are in a wedding venue, looking like we are in a tourist resort or on a movie set under the banner of kitsch: majestic halls, lavish rooms, bridges and waterfalls for taking photos, hearts with doves and a shower of confetti; not to mention the sequin-filled attire of the guests and the bride and groom who arrive in a 19th-century carriage and horses with plumes.

It's reality, and the guest of honor is Enzo, the most desired man after 116 days on Big Brother, who after entertaining guests leaves by helicopter...

But it will be back to the other reality that of work and everyday life.

Luciano is a Neapolitan fishmonger and gets by doing small scams with his wife; they have three children and love each other very much. Maria has fun with her husband who does not hesitate to disguise himself and entertain friends.

One day the woman with children and friends goes to a shopping center where they have organized a selection day for Big Brother. The children want their father to participate and invite him to show up.

After that audition nothing will be the same as before and reality will fall to the mercy of mystification.

He will be invited to Rome, to Cinecittà where he will be involved in the telling of his life story, a true confession, aided by a psychologist, of everything intimate Luciano possessed.

Garrone succeeds in packaging an operation of refined dreamy-obsessive atmosphere.

Inspired by a real-life story, "without denunciation or pedagogical intent," as the director says, he succeeds in making his characters loved and touching the viewers' strings.

"Going on TV is a kind of certification of one's existence and each of us can fall into this trap; it is a journey that wants to tell how we can often lose touch with reality."

Vulnerability to seductions is everyday, and the opening sequence plan seems to invite us into a fairy tale on the border between the real and the imaginary, the dream and the reality, perhaps the nightmare.

The marriage assembly line seems perfect to give the figurative idea of the film where reality TV seems like the trap in which we live. It is a film for the faceless audience because they experience the drama of the lack of recognition of their individuality.

Rags from Pasolini's La ricotta must die to exist and here Luciano must appear to be there.

Life is already a reality show and if the awakening does not happen the stakes are doubled.

A film that cannot leave one indifferent; a careful, restless and highly artistic read.

27-Jun-2023 by Beatrice