Review of The Family

The Family (1987)
Very emotive
19 August 2000
...And I was wondering why. That guy on the Washington Post said the film is boring because "it´s like watching some other´s family album"... On the paper, I´d agree with him, but after watching the movie i have to say that I do not. I guess it has to do with the little, precious details (those long travellings inside the house, for instance: this is a very well directed movie), the humor, the music, with Gassman of course, and with the fact that we´re actually watching the whole life of a man we cannot dislike: the last scene, with the 80 years old Gassman -the grandfather now- posing with all his family for the photo (as in the very first scene, when he´s a baby surrounded by people that will die eventually) has such deep emotional impact, because, I guess, shows finally that life is a trip that inevitably has an end, and where the new ones will occupy the seat of the old ones, and that´s how it should be, and the movie has a sense of calm acceptation of that. In "La famiglia" you see, as Cocteau said, "death doing her work". It´s true that the story seems to have no point, but also, I don´t think life has a point. At least I cannot see one...

I really liked this movie. In my opinion, 7/10.
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