Addio, giovinezza! (1940) User Reviews

Mediocre production of student's love story/comedy

[gagliano-1 · 5/10 · 31 July 2014]

The film is described as a comedy, but a more accurate description would be as a love story. A medical student at Turin's university, Adriano Rimoldi, is romantically involved with a seamstress, Maria Denis, but cheats on her with a vamp type, veteran actress Clara Calamai. The story line is simple and generally well acted, although the best performance is provided by the student's friend, Carlo Campanini, who carries most of the action and gives the film its character. It is a mediocre production, with a side-glance of approval to fascism through the song "Giovinezza" (youth), but it does have a few fascinating insights into the mores of the era. Our hero justifies cheating on his girl friend by stating that, "An oath does not need to be kept if given to a woman." After graduation, his girl friend calls him Doctor, and at the end of the film both protagonists declare their love for each other, yet they separate, apparently for good. Perhaps it is a statement about class differences, where the doctor and the seamstress know their respective place in society, but the film's point of view is not clear – is it an indictment or is an approval? Given the year it was filmed, 1940, with Europe at war and Fascist censors hard at work, it may be that director Ferdinando Poggioli played it safe.