The Complexity of Happiness (La felicità è un sistema complesso) directed by Giovanni Zanasi, and starring Valerio Mastandrea was released in November 2015 and was shown at the Chapter Arts Centre as part of the Italian Film Festival.
Whilst the film is a comedy, it has a slightly different tone to what you might expect as a ‘comedy’. It touches upon topics that are difficult to talk about, in a very delicate and light way.
Enrico Giusti has a very unusual job, he convinces irresponsible managers to quit and pursue an easier life in order to save their businesses and with them, the lives of thousands of families. He wants to do something good, and though working for other managers is an unfortunate side effect, for Enrico it’s a way to fight the system from the inside. However, something changes the day he meets Avinoam, an Israeli girl his brother leaves at Enrico’s home. She follows Enrico on a job that turns out to be different than his usual targets. This time Filippo and Camilla Lievi are not careless mangers, but teenagers who have just lost their parents and have an international business to take care of. They are supposed to quit, as instructed, but this time Enrico will remember that sometimes life is not so complicated and realised that if you can’t explain why you are doing something maybe it’s because you aren’t doing what’s right. The themes of distinguishing between right and wrong, finding happiness and facing your own past are all here in a movie that will make sure you leave the cinema with a smile on your face.
words MARTA MONTANARI