La Terrazza

Ettore Scola directed La terrazza, a 1980 Italian-French feature that blends drama and comedy into a melancholy satire. Its subject is a circle of intellectuals who once held lofty ideals and have since watched their lives and careers come to little. Shot in Italian and running about 124 minutes, it stands out for putting so many of the leading faces of Italian cinema of the day in a single ensemble.

The cast is led by Marcello Mastroianni, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Stefania Sandrelli, alongside Ugo Tognazzi, Vittorio Gassman, Serge Reggiani, Stefano Satta Flores, Carla Gravina, Ombretta Colli and Milena Vukotic, with Venantino Venantini also among the players. The story revolves around a group of friends disenchanted with their own lives and professions, and the film keeps wry irony and sadness close together.

Agenore Incrocci and Furio Scarpelli, the writing duo Age & Scarpelli, wrote the script together with Scola, and both Scola and Incrocci step in front of the camera in brief cameos. At the 1980 Cannes Film Festival the film won the prize for best screenplay, and Carla Gravina was named best supporting actress there. Italian film critics also honored the script with the Nastro d'Argento. In West Germany the film never reached cinemas and was first shown on television in 1984.