Franco Committeri

An evening at an Italian restaurant. Hosted by tolerant and relaxed Flora, various parties of middle-class people come in -- large and small, young and old, regulars and tourists, married and single -- to dine, converse, argue, celebrate, make confessions; to overhear other people's discussions, to interrupt them, to sing, listen to music, and enjoy life. The camera, just like the people, moves constantly from table to table, into the kitchen and the back room to observe the staff's petty jealousies and frustrations -- until two hours later it's time for everybody to go home.

Two neighbors, young Vincenzo and old Mr. Bartoloni, are utterly unhappy. On the one hand Vincenzo must lead a miserable and frustrating life as he cannot find any regular job, despite his Arts degree. On the other hand, Mr. Bartoloni is fed up with his despotic wife: the woman who used to be a beautiful artist is now a fat and shabby drunkard. The two men meet on a particularly sad night and, during an outburst Mr. Bartoloni asks Vincenzo to help him to get rid of his wife by simulating an accident with the promise of a considerable amount of money. At night Vincenzo can't sleep: Mr. Bartoloni wasn't joking and he is in a desperate need for money...

Mario and Maria Boschi, a 30-year-old couple with small children, are hit by a crisis: husband and wife cannot agree on a party name. A colleague, also named Mario, makes an impressive speech, and Maria find herself increasingly attracted to him. She feels able to relate to him like she could to her husband in the old days. They spend the night together, and she falls ill. When she is asked by her husband to leave the house, she realizes that there may be a difference between real love and a vague need for understanding.

The story of salvation is told from the perspective of the Roman governor in Judea, Pontius Pilate.

"The Family," an album with a velvet cover, is meant to touch the extended family of man. Formal portraits, bookends in this 80-year saga, enclose the central story, which opens with the baptism of Carlo, a baby in his grandfather's lap, and ends with Carlo as a grandfather with a baby in his arms. And never once do we get out of the house, whose rooms provide the film's structure. Comfort or passion? Carlo couldn't really decide until it was too late.

A businessman from the United States returns to Italy for the first time in four decades only to discover that an old girlfriend of his, along with her brother, have involved him in a massive hoax.

Walter is a non-commissioned officer of the Navy, while Raf is a ship's cook. They become great friends but unfortunately they fall in love, without knowing it, with the same girl Sonia.

The 50 year story of a ballroom in France, from the 1920s. The people who go there is always the same, even the musicians. You can see all kind of people dancing all the fashion dances (depending on the age).

Sandro is a Roman adrift in Venice during Carnival. As he enters midlife, he argues with his wife of sixteen years more often than they laugh or make love. She's had enough of his moods, so they separate so he can sort out his mind. His first night away, he sees a photograph of a nude; the image resembles his wife. He searches for the model, whose name is Riri. He finds her, and she looks exactly like his wife, except that Riri is a gaily attired prostitute and Laura is a self-contained antiquarian bookseller. Are they two women, are they one, and in the masquerade of Carnival, what is real?

In the 1860's, Giorgio (Giraudeau), a young Italian soldier is sent to a remote post, far away from his lover, Clara (Antonelli). He is lodged in the house of the colonel (Girotti). He becames friends with the colonel and the local doctor (Trintignant). Among the inhabitants of the house, there is a strange young woman - Fosca (d'Obici) who is both unattractive and mad. However, she has a passion that Giorgio will have to cope with.

In the 1860's, Giorgio (Giraudeau), a young Italian soldier is sent to a remote post, far away from his lover, Clara (Antonelli). He is lodged in the house of the colonel (Girotti). He becames friends with the colonel and the local doctor (Trintignant). Among the inhabitants of the house, there is a strange young woman - Fosca (d'Obici) who is both unattractive and mad. However, she has a passion that Giorgio will have to cope with.

In 1867, with Garibaldi's forces close to bringing Rome into the Italian kingdom, Monsignor Colombo da Priverno, a world-weary judge on the papal court, wants to resign, disgusted by the violence to which the papacy resorts to hold secular power.

An episodic satire of the political and social status of Italy in the seventies, through the shows of one day of a television channel. An English language lesson turns into a killing of a black dignitary of an embassy by a CIA agent and then into his own killing by another colleague. In a television film, the police are befooled by a fake bomb and put a real one in order not to be derided by the public. In a film inquisition show, the bishop of Naples speaks highly of the importance of the family, but a child who lives a miserable family life kills himself. In the debate that follows it is proposed that they should eat the children, as Swift had said. In the next episode, a general who is in the toilet is called for the NATO parade, but the flasher breaks and in his effort to fix it, he dirts allover and kills himself. In a children's show an inspector finds excuses and delays the arrest of a powerful man...

A colonel in the Army has a problem: when resting lying starts screaming anarchist and antimilitarist phrases. Because of his fitful sleep is therefore forced to sleep standing up.

A young bank teller, literally allergic to paper money, becomes the worst nightmare of his best customer, a wealthy butcher who manages his business unscrupulously.

A young bank teller, literally allergic to paper money, becomes the worst nightmare of his best customer, a wealthy butcher who manages his business unscrupulously.

Rome, 1800. Napoleon threatens the power of the Church and executions of Jacobins are constant. Angelotti, the most famous of them all has escaped from prison and the chief of police is on his tail. Angelotti is being helped by a painter, lover of "La Tosca", a famous singer. The police chief suspects the truth and tries to arouse the jealousy of "La Tosca" to catch the escapee.

An aristocratic English family gather for the reading of their father's will. The family are dismayed to find that everything has been left to Barbara, the deceased's favourite daughter. The butler is soon found stabbed to death and Sergeant Thorpe, the local bobby, telephones Scotland Yard for assistance. Inspector Grey arrives and he and Barbara narrowly escape being shot. Cousin Ted and his wife Pauline are both killed. Sergeant Thorpe recalls some photos which Ted asked to have developed...