19/12/2024 - The Sicilian filmmaker’s latest work sees him once again directing the tried and tested trio composed of Toni Servillo and comedians Ficarra & Picone

Another historical film is in the offing from Roberto Andò, once again pairing Toni Servillo with the Sicilian comedy duo Salvatore Ficarra and Valentino Picone, a combination successfully road-tested back in 2022 in Strangeness [+see also:
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film profile] (earning 5.7 million euros at the box office, four David di Donatello awards, including one for Best Screenplay, and a Foreign Press Golden Globe for Best Director). The title in question is L’abbaglio [+see also:
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film profile], which the sophisticated film and stage director, screenwriter and author, is dedicating to Italy’s national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Renaissance general and politician known as the ’”Hero of the Two Worlds”.

Set in 1860, the film sees Garibaldi (Tommaso Ragno, recently gracing Nostalgia [+see also:
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interview: Mario Martone
interview: Pierfrancesco Favino
film profile], Vermiglio, the Mountain Bride [+see also:
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interview: Maura Delpero
film profile] and Sicilian Letters [+see also:
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interview: Fabio Grassadonia and Anton…
film profile]) starting out the Expedition of the Thousand from Quarto, near Genoa, amidst the enthusiasm of scores of young idealists who had travelled from all over Italy to join him, in the company of his faithful group of officers, amongst whom we discover new Palermo-born character, Colonel Vincenzo Giordano Orsini (Servillo). Two Sicilians feature among the many soldiers recruited: Domenico Tricò, a farmer who’s emigrated from the North, and trickster Rosario Spitale (played by Ficarra & Picone). Once arrived in Marsala, Sicily, the Thousand set about fighting the Bourbon army whose superior size is immediately apparent. Under these conditions, the general feels it’s almost impossible to break through the enemy’s defences to reach Palermo. But when he’s almost forced to retreat, Garibaldi comes up with an ingenious plan. He entrusts Colonel Orsini with a diversionary attack, and the latter sets up a column of wounded men composed of a haggard little group of soldiers who are tasked with the delicate mission of making the Swiss commander of the royal army, Jean-Luc Von Mechel (French actor Pascal Greggory, thrice nominated at the Césars and recently starring in Jeanne du Barry [+see also:
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Other names appearing in the cast are Giulia Andò (The Confessions [+see also:
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interview: Roberto Andò
film profile]), Leonardo Maltese (Kidnapped [+see also:
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film profile]), Vincenzo Pirrotta (The Bone Breakers [+see also:
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interview: Vincenzo Pirrotta
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film profile], and poised to begin filming on Paolo Sorrentino’s La grazia, this will be Toni Servillo’s fourth collaboration with Roberto Andò after Long Live Freedom [+see also:
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interview: Roberto Andò
film profile] (selected in competition in Karlovy Vary and awarded the Cineuropa Prize at Brussels’ Mediterranean Film Festival, among numerous other accolades), The Confessions (which also competed in Karlovy Vary) and the afore-mentioned Strangeness, which saw Servillo stepping into the shoes of the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Luigi Pirandello. Andò has previously focused his attentions on another great writer, the author of The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, in The Prince’s Manuscript, but he’s no stranger to film noir either - as proven by Strange Crime and Una storia senza nome [+see also:
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film profile], which screened out of competition in Venice - or to drama, as per The Hidden Child [+see also:
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interview: Roberto Andò
film profile], which also showcased out of competition in Venice.

Written by the director in league with Ugo Chiti and Massimo Gaudioso, who also collaborated with Andò on Strangeness, the film boasts photography from another of the director’s partners in crime Maurizio Calvesi. Editing is by Esmeralda Calabria, set design by Giada Calabria, costumes come courtesy of Maria Rita Barbera and the film’s music is composed by Michele Braga and Emanuele Bossi. L’abbaglio was produced by Bibi Film, Tramp Limited with RAI Cinema and Medusa Film, in collaboration with Netflix. World sales are entrusted to RAI Cinema International Distribution, while 01 Distribution are bringing the film to Italian cinemas in January 2025.

(Translated from Italian)