Acqua e sapone

Acqua e sapone (Water and Soap) is a 1983 film by Carlo Verdone.

For the cycling team, see Acqua & Sapone.
Acqua e sapone
Italian theatrical release poster by Renato Casaro
Directed byCarlo Verdone
Produced byMario Cecchi Gori, Vittorio Cecchi Gori
Written byCarlo Verdone, Enrico Oldoini, Franco Ferrini
StarringCarlo Verdone, Natasha Hovey
Music byFabio Liberatori ("Stadio" band)
CinematographyDanilo Desideri
Edited byAntonio Siciliano
Release date
1983
Running time
103 min
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian

Verdone, here in his fourth direction, besides interpreter is also the author of the subject and participates in the script as in his other films.

Plot

Sandy is an American teenager who has become a famous baby-model, just arrived in Rome for photo shoots and fashion shows that will engage her for a few months; she is accompanied by her mother and stepfather, because she is still too young to live her life alone. The mother, looking for a private teacher to whom to entrust her daughter's school preparation during her stay in the capital, tries to contact the well-known theologian Michael Spinetti: in the convent where he lives, the woman's phone calls Rolando Ferrazza, a thirty years old and graduated with honors, but who despite this has found no other occupation.

To round off his meager income, Rolando takes the opportunity and introduces himself to the woman as Father Spinetti. The deception succeeds with Sandy's parents but not with the girl, who soon unmasks him and tries to blackmail him: she would prefer to live a life different from the one imposed by the hard work of a model and the tedious family life. To ensure that the secret of Rolando is well guarded, Sandy forces him to take her around the city, spending days full of fun. Between the two it is born a tender friendship and for the young, still a girl "water and soap", it is the beginning of the first amorous disturbances.

The mother, meanwhile, discovers the truth, meeting the real father Spinetti. Furious, fires the young impostor who loses his job and can no longer see Sandy. However, the young woman escapes from a photographic set, arriving in the middle of the night at Rolando's house; the two spend a few hours together again, making love too (the first time for Sandy, who wants to give herself to a sweet and tender man like Rolando), but in the end the girl decides to go back to her family and her life the days, leaving Rolando to his future.

Production

Carlo Verdone was inspired by the plot of the film by a journalistic service of RAI, made by Carlo Sartori, which told the phenomenon of the so-called "babymodels" – just exploded in the early 1980s, with the case of Brooke Shields –, and to complain exploitation of mothers on their prodigal daughters; mothers not very sensitive to the need for a balanced psychological development of adolescent daughters, who deprived them of a serene infancy to take them to forced stages to success.

Cast

The female protagonist of the film, Natasha Hovey, was here at her film debut. Fabrizio Bracconeri, who plays Rolando's neighbor, was also in the first career film: Verdone had met him in the garage where he worked and already in the past had asked the actor and director to make him play a part in his job; when for the role of the neighbor he was looking for someone who spoke in Roman in the same way as Sora Lella, Verdone decided to try it, then writing it for the film.

For the role of Wilma Walsh, Sandy's mother, Verdone had initially thought of Virna Lisi, then opting for Florinda Bolkan. Elena Fabrizi instead returns to play the role of the grandmother of the protagonist in a film by Verdone, as had already happened in an episode of White, Red and Verdone. Finally appears in a small cameo, as a presenter of a fashion show, Christian De Sica; Verdone wanted to help his friend, as well as his brother-in-law, at a time when he was in financial difficulty.

Soundtrack

The song Acqua e sapone, written by Vasco Rossi and music by Gaetano Curreri, is sung by the Stadio.

Citations and references
  • As well as the protagonist Rolando Ferrazza, also the same Carlo Verdone graduated in letters with 110 cum laude.

Cast

References
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