Paolo Virzì, one of the best contemporary Italian directors, has come back in 2016 with a new film, La pazza gioia (Like crazy). Making its debut at the prestigious Quinzaine des Réalisateurs during 2016 Festival de Cannes, the film will be screened in London on 25 September at Genesis Cinema by CinemaItaliaUK.
A scene from ‘La pazza gioia’ by Paolo Virzì
Beatrice (the Italo-French Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) is a fantasist and a so-called billionaire countess who likes to believe she’s in intimacy with world leaders. Donatella (Micaela Ramazzotti) is a young, quiet, tattooed woman with a young son and surrounded by her own mystery. They are both patients of a mental institution on the hills of Tuscany and subject to custodial measures.
Highly acclaimed by the critic and the audience, Paolo Virzì’s new film tells the story of the duo’s unpredictable friendship and their escape from the treatment constraints that will become an hilarious and moving adventure in a Thelma and Louise’s style, looking for a bit of fun and love in the world of healthy people.
Virzì turns the remainder of the film into an exploration of what happiness is, how it can be found and what it really means to be ‘crazy’.
The story is set in 2014, before a law was passed that ordered all Judicial Mental Hospitals closed. However, as stated in the end credits, only half of the patients in these institutions have since found an alternative home.
An unmissable bittersweet comedy in which tragic events mix with fun episodes. To book your tickets please click here.
