LONG LIVE THE LADY

Italy, 1986, 107 minutes, Colour.
Marco Esposito, Simona Brandalise.
Directed be Ermanno Olmi.

Long Live the Lady is a film written and directed by Ermano Olmi - and made for Italian television but getting some theatrical release around the world. Olmi is best known for him films Il Posto, The Tree of Wooden Clogs, The Legend of the Holy Drinker.

The film has echoes of the exterminating angel, even Fellini's Satyricon with its almost total focus on a banquet. The film shows a group of young people going to a mountain resort and being trained to serve at a huge and lavish banquet. The film also shows the elitist guests and the eccentric elderly woman who is their hostess. The film highlights the meticulous training, the details of the meal - and offers the audience a chance to make allegorical interpretations about human nature, class distinctions. There is an enigmatic ending as the young hero, one of the waiters whom Ermano Olmi seems to identify with, running away from the hotel, pursued by a St Bernard dog and terrified but realising that the dog wanted only to play.

Enigmatic, a mood piece, meticulously edited for leading the audience into the atmosphere with touches of the comic as well as touches of menace.

1.Interesting? Entertaining? Impact of the drama? A fable, parable or allegory?

2.The work of Ermano Olmi in Italian cinema? Serious themes? Demands on audiences for reflection? His point of view on Italian society, class distinctions? Seeing the banquet and the training from Libenzio and his point of view?

3.The metaphor of the banquet, a microcosm, an image of Italian society?

4.The visuals of the hotel, the mountain countryside, its antiquity? The hall, the rooms for the staff, the banquet hall, the kitchen, the cellars? The permanent staff and their elitism? The film's attention to training detail, the setting of the tables, the cooking, the huge fish? The manager and her putting place-names at the table? All in readiness for the guests? The reception of the guests?

5.The youngsters and their arrival by train, the summer job, their bewilderment, in the old van, arrival at the hotel, getting their rooms, being regimented, the speeches and morale? Their clothes, attention to detail of the training, crockery and cutlery, etc? The film's use of close-ups and wordless expressions? Any characterisation of the staff?

6.The staff trainers, methods?

7.Libenzio and the film's focus on him, his arrival, one of the group? His memories, the relationship with his father as a young child, at home, seeing the young girl at the banquet and his memory of angels, questions about angels and their looking feminine, reaching up to the picture of the angel? The humour of his name and the teacher explaining it in connection with libations? Shyness, at attention, losing the cigarette lighter, going down to the cellar, his curiosity? Looking at the hostess? The young girl and the attraction? His father's visit and their talk, getting back inside? The effect of the evening, the lady being carried out on the stretcher, the decision to run away, being pursued by the dog, terror, lying on the grass - and the final caption with the dog wanting to play with him?

8.The lady, her age, tyrannical presence, elitist? Her binoculars looking at the guests and their behaviour? The guests themselves, their rank, professional background? Waiting for the lady, conforming? The woman who stole the cigarette lighter? The woman concerned about the baby - and the people in clowns' clothes? The rebellious guest and his scorning the lady? The servant made to fill the extra place, needing his glasses? Their reaction to the food - liking, disliking? The entry of the fish and its being cut up for the guests? The desserts and their applause? The video presentation, the man wanting to make a speech but being drowned out by the musicians? The suggestions of the significance of the banquet, the reasons for the guests' presence etc? The lady and her departure?

9.The lady, her collapse, being carried out of the hotel?

10.The behaviour of the guests after being set free from the dining room, playing cards, more relaxed?

11.The effect of sharing this banquet with the staff and the guests? Comment on human nature?