Ivano De Matteo wraps up Gli equilibristi

by Vittoria Scarpa

29/02/2012 - Another Italian film, following Carlo Verdone’s Posti in piedi in paradiso (see the interview), will portray the financial difficulties of a couple that is separating. It’s Ivano De Matteo’s Gli equilibristi, the filming of which has finished in Rome. The third feature film by the author of Ultimo stadio and La bella gente [trailer] (selected to the Turin Film Festival 2009) is a Franco-Italian coproduction by Rodeo Drive and Babe Films.

The film, written by De Matteo together with his trusted companion Valentina Ferlan, will star Valerio Mastandrea and Barbora Bobulova: Giulio (Mastandrea) is forty years old and lives an apparently tranquil life. He rents a house, has a steady job, a car paid in installments, a daughter who’s a bit of a rebel but also a nice girl, a sweet son who’s a bit of a dreamer, and a wife (Bobulova) whom he loves and on whom he cheats. When Giulio will be discovered and left, his fairy tale world will suddenly crumble: he will find himself having to pay two rents, double the bills, having to eat on his own in shabby restaurants and hiding from the creditors.

Through a whole series of events, at times tragic, at times ironic, Gli equilibristi is an account of what happens to a couple that “dares” to separate in this day and age, from the point of view of a man forced to discover how fragile the line between affluence and poverty really is. The cast also includes Maurizio Casagrande, Rolando Ravello, Rosabel Laurenti Sellers and Grazia Schiavo.

Shot in seven weeks, De Matteo’s new film has been recognised as being of cultural interest and has received the support of Ministry for Cultural Goods and Activities - Directorate General for Cinema (MiBAC).

(Translated from Italian)