Mario Monicelli - Un Borghese piccolo piccolo aka An Average Little Man (1977)

Giovanni Vivaldi, a modest modest pen pusher close to his retirement, has educated his son Mario with great efforts. Now he believes his son's accountant diploma should earn him a job at the Ministry where he works. To facilitate this, Vivalidi joins a freemason's lodge where the higher-ranking employees of the Ministry belong. On the day of the test for the job, something goes terribly wrong...







Can one imagine a Monicelli's film without the friendly and at the same time cruel face which Alberto Sordi lends to his characterization of Giovanni Vivaldi? In "Un Borghese Piccolo Piccolo" on one side Monicelli transforms partially comical situations (like the acceptance in the freemasons) into something more expressionistic, harder and disturbing than a normal Italian comedy scene. On the other side, Sordi moves within these situations (starting from the first scene chopping a fish head) trying to keep the balance between comedy and drama, getting to uncover in the second half of the movie a black soul that nobody had imagined.
"I wanted the character always to be dark, to bring out all his black energy that he has from the beginning. Ultimately, I wanted with the ending of this story to be the most logical and clear conclusion of the Italian comedy genre which had always had a dark, hard and sometimes violent facet in its path." A path that only Sordi could interpret and make believable. It is no doubt that nobody like him could render the soul of a country which seems unable to grow, that is afraid of novelty, and that facing tragedy wants only to take revenge on someone who, perhaps momentarily, is weaker than him. " (Mario Monicelli)









Un burgués pequeño pequeño
Giovanni Vivaldi, un modesto empleado público a punto de retirarse, ha educado a su hijo Mario con grandes esfuerzos y cree que el título de contador que su hijo acaba de obtener servirá para conseguir un trabajo en el ministerio donde trabaja. A fin de facilitar esto, Vivaldi se inicia como masón en la logia a la que pertenecen los empleados de alto rango del ministerio. En el día de la prueba para el trabajo, algo terrible sucede...







Giovanni Vivaldi (Alberto Sordi) ha lavorato per una vita come modesto impiegato del ministero. Il suo unico sogno è quello che suo figlio Mario (Vincenzo Crocitti), diplomatosi ragioniere, lo sostituisca nell'impiego. Per agevolare il figlio al concorso ministeriale, Vivaldi accetta di iscriversi alla loggia massonica a cui appartiene il dottor Spaziani, il suo superiore. Il guaio è che, proprio il giorno dell'esame, davanti agli occhi del padre, Mario viene ucciso da un rapinatore di banca...






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