Pranzo Di Ferragosto Review

The film, Pranzo Di Ferragosto, used food in a variety of ways to relate the characters to one another. It was clear from the beginning of the film that Gianni and his mother related to one another through food. This was especially seen in the scene in which Gianni's mother refused to come to the family table for dinner, and instead wished to eat with her son in her room. Afterwards, she sought to apologize for ignoring her guests by inviting them to watch television and have tea with her. Food also serves as a way of defining the characters themselves. One of the characters, Grazia, had a very strict diet and wasn't able to share in the meal Gianni and Maria had prepared earlier. This somewhat divided her early on from the other women, who had already begun to get to know each other before Grazia arrived. The other woman staying with Gianni that weekend, the mother of Alfonso, refused to eat at all and instead left the house that night to eat on her own. This showed her independence from the other women. Lastly, the final meal all the characters shared with one another worked to bring them all together. After the turmoil of the day before, Gianni was finally able to sit with everyone and enjoy the meal he prepared. All the women became so close to one another that they paid Gianni to allow them to stay longer. The film also did a lot to show the strong relationship between Gianni and his mother. Gianni clearly cared dearly for his mother and did not want to leave her to care for herself. This is in sharp contrast to Alfonso, who begs Gianni to take his mother for the holiday so he could spend it with another woman. The two characters seemed to portray the different mother-son relationships that exist in Italian society, but on a larger scale, the film seemed to be so successful because of it's universal relatability to people of all societies, who were able to relate to the mother-son relationships found in the film. Pranzo Di Ferragosto was a very interesting film.