To Rome with Love | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Woody Allen |
Produced by |
Letty Aronson Stephen Tenenbaum Giampaolo Letta Faruk Alatan |
Written by | Woody Allen |
Starring | Woody Allen Alec Baldwin Roberto Benigni Penélope Cruz Judy Davis Jesse Eisenberg Greta Gerwig Ellen Page |
Cinematography | Darius Khondji |
Edited by | Alisa Lepselter |
Production
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Distributed by |
Medusa Distribuzione (Italy) Sony Pictures Classics (US) |
Release date
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Running time
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112 minutes |
Country | Italy United States |
Language | English Italian |
Box office | $73,244,881 |
To Rome with Love is a 2012 magical realistromantic comedy film written, directed by and starring Woody Allen in his first acting appearance since 2006. The film is set in Rome, Italy; it was released in Italian theaters on April 13, 2012, and opened in Los Angeles and New York City on June 22, 2012.
The film features an ensemble cast, including Allen himself. The story is told in four separate vignettes: a clerk who wakes up to find himself a celebrity, an architect who takes a trip back to the street he lived on as a student, a young couple on their honeymoon, and an Italian funeral director whose uncanny singing ability enraptures his soon to be in-law, an American opera director.
To Rome with Love tells four unrelated stories taking place in Rome. The second story, Antonio's, is a direct lift with some amendments of an entire Fellini film, The White Sheik (1952).
American tourist Hayley falls in love with and becomes engaged to Italian pro bono lawyer Michelangelo while spending a summer in Rome. Her parents, Jerry (Woody Allen) and Phyllis, fly to Italy to meet her fiancé and his parents. During the visit, Michelangelo's mortician father Giancarlo sings in the shower and Jerry, a retired—and critically reviled—opera director, feels inspired to bring Giancarlo's gift to the public. Jerry convinces a reluctant Giancarlo to audition in front of a room of opera bigwigs, but Giancarlo performs poorly in this setting. Michelangelo accuses Jerry of embarrassing his father and trying to use him to revive his own failed career, which in turn breeds discontent between Michelangelo and Hayley.
Jerry then realizes that Giancarlo's talent is tied to the comfort and freedom he feels in the shower; Jerry stages a concert in which Giancarlo performs at the Teatro dell'Opera while actually washing himself onstage in a purpose-built shower. This is a great success, so Jerry and Giancarlo decide to stage the opera Pagliacci, with an incongruous shower present in all scenes. Giancarlo receives rave reviews, while Jerry is unaware that he has again been slammed as he has been called "imbecille" ("stupid" in Italian). Giancarlo decides to retire from opera singing, because he prefers working as a mortician and spending time with his family. But he appreciates being given the chance to live his dream of performing Pagliacci, and his success has mended the relationship between Michelangelo and Hayley.