Il Boom

Set in the luxurious apartments of Italy's nouveau riche during the country's postwar economic boom, the rather aimless satire of Il Boom (1963) seems an unlikely vehicle for the great director Vittorio De Sica (The Bicycle Thieves). Giovanni (Alberto Sordi) is a businessman who has got himself into debt trying to match the lifestyle of his rich friends. Fearing that his beautiful wife will leave him, he is forced to consider a shocking proposal made to him by the wife of an industrial magnate, one which will save him from his predicament but which also suggests that everything has its price in the new Italy. It is at this point that De Sica begins to really engage with his material, creating a frightening image of a man trapped by the expectations of those around him. Sordi is excellent as the hapless Giovanni, his expression swinging from hope to despair with the movement of an eyebrow. [Keir Roper-Caldbeck]