Happy as Lazzaro

Alice Rohrwacher's wonderful parable is set on the border between magic and realism - a modern fairy tale in the midst of sun-drenched Italian tobacco fields: Country boy Lazzaro (Adriano Tardiolo), born and raised in the remote village of Inviolata, is goodness personified. He is always there for everyone, works all day, never complains and doesn't even seem unhappy in all his poor circumstances, The people around him, who eagerly take advantage of him, describe him as “simple-minded”. This also applies to the spoiled young nobleman Tancredi, whom Lazzaro meets when he is taken to the house of his mother, the imperious Marchesa Alfonsina de Luna, by a girl from the village. Lazzaro is supposed to help his new friend fake his own kidnapping so that his disappearance will attract his mother's attention. But Lazzaro suffers a fall that upsets the fabric of space and time... In a magnificent narrative arc, the second half of the film is set in a large Italian city in order to contrast rural poverty with the new urban misery. In a condensed parable, the change from the feudal system to the impoverishment of the cities unfolds without losing its wonderfully fairytale-like, sad and beautiful touch. At the Cannes Film Festival, Alice Rohrwacher's third feature film sparked storms of enthusiasm, and not just from the critics. Her story, which alternates between sobriety and fairytale poetry, also won the prize for best screenplay in the international competition. “LAZZARO FELICE is, in other words, one of the very best films of the year.” (artechock.de) “After “Corpo Celeste” and “Land of Miracles”, Alice Rohrwacher has made a small miracle of a movie. With a unique combination of social drama, magical realism and fairy tale, worker film and saint story, the Italian filmmaker tells of the possibility of goodness in a timeless yet true-to-life Italy. The framework spans from agrarian society to the urban present. [...] Similar to the title character, “Happy as Lazzaro” is not quite of this world and yet has more to do with it than much of what is called a description of reality. In the aftermath of Pasolini's “cinema of poetry”, Rohrwacher approaches social issues. [...] Cinematographer Hélène Louvart's unpolished 16mm images make dust and heat physically tangible, their soft, lively texture has an almost animistic quality. [...] The “spiritual” center, however, is the face of the leading actor Adriano Tardiolo, framed by dark curls, which is somewhere between a Renaissance painting and a kitschy image of a saint. But his Lazzaro is not just “too good to be true”. He also stands for a political utopia. Because his unconditional devotion breaks through the logic of the market, which is based on exchange. It demands nothing.” (Esther Buss, on: filmdienst.de)