By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Antonio Luigi Grimaldi
Starring: Alessandro Gassman | Blu Di Martino | Isabella Ferrari | Nanni Moretti | Roman Polanski | Valeria Golino
Original language title: Coas Calmo
Country: italy, united_kingdom
Year: 2008
Running time: 105
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0929412/
Bruce says: “As QUIET CHAOS begins, Pietro (Nanni Moretti) and Carlo (Alessandro Gassman) Paladini, brothers from Rome’s privileged class, are playing paddleball towards summer’s end at a beachside resort. Suddenly there are screams from the ocean. Two women have gone out too far and are in deep trouble. The brothers rush to the water’s edge without batting an eye. A man tries to stop them from diving in but the brothers pay him no mind. Bravely and resolutely they swim out and each rescues one of the women. When they return, no one thanks them or acknowledges their valor. On the way to Pietro’s house Mario asks ‘What was yours like?’ Strange how a few words can give the viewer a volume of information.
“When they approach the driveway of Pietro’s beach house, Pietro’s pre-teen daughter Claudia (Blu Di Martino) runs frantically
towards them. Lying in a heap on the veranda is Pietro’s wife. She is dead from a fall. Pietro is stunned but lacks the emotion one would expect from such an ordeal. On the first day of school he escorts Claudia to the door of the school. He reassures her that he will be there for her when school is out. He walks towards his car but decides instead to sit on a bench in the park across from the school. To pass the time Pietro begins making lists – really important lists like all the airlines he has flown and places he has lived. He never leaves the park until Claudia has finished school.
“Day after day he sits in the park. He eats lunch in the café. Friends and business associates begin to visit him there. His company is in the middle of an important merger and he has been selected as one of the top three survivors – even that news does not lure him away from the park. His wife’s sister (Valeria Golino) visits him and digs up old issues. His brother arrives and tries to get him to return to the beach to get over the hurdle of re-visiting the death scene. Pietro manages to keep all of them at arm’s length. He feels more aligned with a willowy blond who walks her dog through the park several times a day and a retarded boy who waves at Pietro’s car every time the car makes noise as Pietro locks and unlocks it using the remote. Upheaval
begins when Carlo meets one of the women (Isabella Ferrari) he and Pietro rescued at a dinner party.
“QUIET CHAOS is filled with more subplots than I could count. Strangely they all seem to fit in the larger story making it richer rather than diluting it. Nanni Moretti is wonderful as the quietly shut-down Pietro. The supporting cast is excellent. Much ado has been made of a famous sex scene banned by the Vatican. It is both explicit and sexy but, to be honest, fits perfectly into the film. Grimaldi’s choice of music is intriguing. On the soundtrack are Stars’ ‘Your Ex-Lover Is Dead,’ Rufus Wainwright’s ‘Chocolate and Cigarettes’ and Radiohead’s ‘Pyramid Song.’ 4.5 cats
“QUIET CHAOS screened at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.”