OpenAirCinema 2024

BAD CONSCIENCE
Directed by Davide Minnella. A film to watch 2023 with Francesco Scianna, Filippo Scicchitano, Matilde Gioli, Beatrice Grannò. Full cast Genre Comedy, - Italy, 2023, running time 110 minutes.

AN INTERESTING CONTEMPORARY TALE WITH TWO PILLARS: THE SCRIPT WITH AN INTERNATIONAL FLAVOUR AND THE DUCTILITY OF FRANCESCO SCIANNA.
Review by Paola Casella

Filippo is the classic good guy, and he is about to get married to Luisa, his girlfriend of seven years: but he is sad, he feels prisoner of a situation that cages him, and the contemptuous despotism of his future father-in-law does not help. His conscience tells him that he must do the right thing, and go ahead with his long-prepared marriage: it is a pity that he is remotely manoeuvred by Otto, the most skilful manager of other people's scruples, about to receive a reward for his efficiency. But Filippo escapes Otto's remote control for a few hours, and in that brief time he meets Valentina, a messed-up girl who breaks his heart and urges him to throw away the wedding and his reputation as a good guy.
Otto has no choice but to intervene in person by assuming the human guise of Nicola, a former school friend of Filippo's, and getting in the way between the betrothed and Valentina. Filippo, however, without his 'conscience' to pilot him from a distance, is free to take uncontrollable initiatives, and 'Nicola' himself will discover that even his self-control can suffer breakdowns.
Bad conscience is a comedy of the kind in which a supernatural intervention wreaks havoc in the lives of human beings, and it starts from the premise that free will does not really exist, because we are all driven by an external conscience that is not the result of our own moral tension.
Both of these premises require a great deal of suspension of disbelief, but they also create a cinematically interesting story, mixing the desire to play with reality of certain 1980s romantic comedies with 21st century 'inside out' reflections.
Supporting the story are two pillars: the first is the screenplay by Stefano Sardo (who also gives himself a cameo as a bartender), who wrote the screenplay together with Teresa Gelli and Giordana Mari - a solid screenplay despite the fundamental implausibility of the premises (net of some carelessness, perhaps due to editing cuts: how does Filippo know where Valentina's parents live? And how can he drive a motorbike that does not belong to him?), indebted to American imprinting but not rigidly bound by the rules of the writing format. This type of screenplay can have an international market because it is professionally constructed, without great authorial ambitions, but with the awareness that the narrative mechanisms must support a story that the audience can root for.

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