Hap­py as Laz­zaro – first look review

Hap­py as Laz­zaro is best under­stood as a guid­ed hal­lu­ci­na­tion, or per­haps a mov­ing pho­to­graph­ic series con­trast­ing a pas­toral haven of peas­ants pic­turesque­ly per­form­ing their servi­tude with an urban hus­tle where those same folks wear jeans and com­mit low-lev­el crime for a liv­ing. These two worlds con­jured by Ital­ian direc­tor Alice Rohrwach­er in her fol­low-up to The Won­ders are linked by the pres­ence of a pure-heart­ed young man named Laz­zaro (Adri­ano Tardiolo).

This is a film designed to frus­trate nar­ra­tive reads. For one: there are great crowds of char­ac­ters, and most are not offered much of an intro­duc­tion. The audi­ence is posi­tioned like some­one drift­ing up late to a par­ty in full swing, and slink­ing around the mar­gins try­ing to find a han­dle on the atmos­phere that so potent­ly exudes itself. Instead of appeal­ing to our ratio­nale, Rohrwach­er, aid­ed by cin­e­matog­ra­ph­er Hélène Lou­vart, appeals to our sen­su­al­i­ty. The cor­ners of the frame are vignetted like old pho­tographs, set­ting a tone of nos­tal­gia for a fad­ing world.

The fig­ures in the frame are mul­ti­ple gen­er­a­tions of share­crop­pers who are being exploit­ed by the March­esa Alfon­si­na De Luna. The set­ting is Invi­o­la­ta, a rur­al Ital­ian vil­lage in the 1980s, and unknown to her unpaid labour­ers, share­crop­ping has been out­lawed. This social fact is pre­sent­ed casu­al­ly, sans hys­te­ria. Chal­lenged by her per­ox­ide-haired free­wheel­ing son Tan­cre­di, the March­esa dis­miss­es him with the expla­na­tion that every­one is exploit­ing some­one, ​“It’s a chain reac­tion,” she says.

Mean­while the sun traces a gold­en line around smooth faces, hair is healthy, eyes sparkle, and olive bod­ies capa­bly tend to ani­mals and the land. The idyl­lic vision is at odds with the sit­u­a­tion. This half of the film has no inter­est in adding up – it sim­ply unfolds. Then the sec­ond half is on us, her­ald­ed by heli­copter shots over moun­tains and a voiceover about a wolf.

Hap­py as Laz­zaro is among the most divi­sive films to have played so far in the offi­cial selec­tion, because to even describe what it is or what it does is a con­found­ing task. It’s a social­ly crit­i­cal movie with no sense of urgency, it’s a mag­i­cal world that is stuck on this earth. Alba Rohrwach­er shines as Anto­nia, a char­ac­ter who comes into her own as a con artist with a sense of hon­our. Adri­ano Tar­di­o­lo as Laz­zaro chan­nels an untouch­able see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil type of inno­cence. There is a tiny dog in a neck­cone, an antique cig­a­rette hold­er, and back in Invi­o­late the most exquis­ite tableaux.

This is a film like a siren that beck­ons you towards it, only to evade your clutch­es. It is an iron­clad mys­tery that unfolds in soft­ly envelop­ing waves. Rohrwach­er has made a Rorschach Test movie, that will hold any inter­pre­ta­tion you care to throw at it.