Maurizio Nichetti is waiting in a TV studio to present his latest film "Ladri di saponette". An ordinary family is
arguing in front of the TV, constantly changing channels and programs. Then they tune by accident to the Nichetti’s movie.
A critic, in the presence of the author, is recounting the entire plot of the film: a dramatic film, in severe black and white,
which take place in post-war Italy.
Finally, the images of "Ladri di saponette" appear on the TV-screen: it’s the story of Antonio
Piermattei, his wife Maria and their two small sons, Bruno and Paolo. A story of unemployment and family arguments fuelled by a kind
of poverty which certainly doesn’t make relationships easier. After a few minutes, when the situation and the characters have been
presented and the viewer begins to enter into the atmosphere of the film, here comes the first commercial...
The commercials break continuously through the film and the poor post-war black and white alternates with the sparkling colors of the
marketing decade of the Eighties.
The viewers lazily follows the images running on the screen while Nichetti, still in the TV studio, gets more and more upset as time
goes by. After all, he’s the writer of the film and the only one to be aware of the loss of atmosphere, of the broken rhythm, of the damages
caused by the continuous interruptions. Suddenly, the whole city gets into an unexpected blackout. There’s no light in the house of the
viewers and in the TV studio too. The problem is solved in a very short time, but something’s wrong: the top-model of one of the commercials
gets lost in the air and finds herself in the black and white of the film, upsetting the life of Piermattei’s family! Nichetti morally feels
the need to step in, trying to bring the film back on the foreseen track, but it’s too late because also the characters have been corrupted
by the advertising world.
The viewers are just mute witnesses to all this, understanding what they can or what they want. Like every other evening, they’ll go
to bed with their eyes filled with the stories and the characters created by the household tool called television.
The movie’s special effects were all achieved with traditional vertical Truke. Color goes through black and white and vice versa.
These special effects were achieved by masking different parts of every single frame. All the black and white images were retraced on
the vertical Truka and photographed on a color negative. This process made it possible to check the frames during printing.
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plot | | | |
curiosities | | |
storyboard | | |
play bill |
