Ex – Amici come prima!
| Ex - Amici come prima! | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Carlo Vanzina |
| Produced by |
Federica Lucisano Fulvio Lucisano |
| Screenplay by | Enrico Vanzina and Carlo Vanzina |
| Starring | Alessandro Gassman |
| Music by |
Giuliano Taviani Carmelo Travia |
| Cinematography | Carlo Tafani |
| Edited by | Raimondo Crociani |
Production company |
Italian International Film Rai Cinema |
| Distributed by | RAI |
Release date |
|
Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
Ex – Amici come prima! is an Italian comedy film. It was directed by Carlo Vanzina and its ensemble cast is led by Alessandro Gassman and Anna Foglietta. It was produced by Italian International Film and distributed by 01 Distribution, a subsidiary of RAI.
Plot
On her wedding day, Floriana is purposefully late to the ceremony in order to make the groom, Marco, a little anxious. However, upon arriving, she learns that Marco has not even arrived yet. Marco, in the meantime, is still struggling to retrieve one of the wedding rings from a sewer, in which he dropped it by accident.
In the meantime Fabio’s girlfriend Esther dumps him with a text message. Devastated, he attempts to jump from the roof terrace of his office but his colleagues manage to hold him back. However, in their grapple they knock over a flowerpot, which falls onto the street below, narrowly missing the car of lawyer Sandra. Just then Max pulls into the parking space which Sandra believed to have finally found after half an hour of searching. After a heated discourse she finally arrives at her office, late for an appointment with a client. That client is Mrs Marangoni, who wants to file for divorce after her husband has left her. Believing he is cheating on her, she is seeking revenge. Sandra reveals her own recent disappointment with her ex-boyfriend, and the two women quickly bond. Unbeknownst to Sandra, her client’s husband is no one other than Max, with whom she had just been fighting over the parking space.
Antonio, a pharmacist from Sorrento and newly elected Member of the European Parliament, is celebrating his new position, about which his wife Nunzia, though, appears to be more excited than himself. He is approached by two long time friends of his, who ask Antonio to “remember” them in the form of little favors in his position in Brussels. His wife steps in, demanding 30% of any profit Antonio helps them gain.
Fabio, somewhat calmed down after the incident on the roof, has been accompanied home by his colleague Paolo, who tries to cheer him up by repeating to him the pleasures of the single life he is enjoying himself, though Fabio is not convinced. Upon spotting a photography of Esther, right after Paolo has left, he attempts to jump from the balcony of his apartment. This time, Professor Rinaldi, a psychiatrist who has his practice on the floor below Fabio’s apartment, manages to stop him and convinces him to seek his professional advice.
Nunzia accompanies Antonio to the airport and lectures him on what she expects him to do in Brussels: take advantage of his position for their own profit. She wishes him a good journey, though he insists that her good wishes will bring him bad luck. Floriana and Marco are also at the airport, leaving for their honeymoon. As Marco parks the car, he encounters his old flame Consuelo. They had planned to go on a date five years earlier but waited for each other in different locations, believing the other had lost interest. Consuelo is still single, and Marco claims the same. They exchange phone numbers.
In a bar back in Rome, Paolo is trying to hit on a girl named Alessia. Sandra is in the same bar with a friend, who is looking out for male company and also trying to get Sandra hooked up with someone, but Sandra is visibly not interested and leaves soon after. It is raining, and there are no taxis available. She tries to grab a free taxi, only to discover that Max had the same idea at the same moment. Another argument ensues, and after discovering they are both going to Lungotevere, they agree to share the taxi.
Paolo has been successful with Alessia and they arrive at her place, though Paolo is somewhat surprised to see that she has taken him to her parent’s place. She reassures him that her parents are “modern” and more worried about her not returning home at night that they are about her bringing a one-night stand home, and she eventually summons her entire family for help when Paolo has trouble putting on his preservative.
Antonio’s flight to Brussels has been forced to land in Munich due to the eruption of an Icelandic volcano, in which Antonio sees the “curse” of his wife confirmed. In a crowded restaurant in Munich, he encounters Olga, who is from the Baltics, over a schnitzel that both had ordered. The waiter, apparently from Campania like Antonio, had decided to serve Antonio first, even though Olga ordered almost an hour before him. Antonio, put off by this favoritism, offers it to Olga, and they eventually agree to share Olga’s schnitzel and Antonio’s bottle of wine. The bottle of wine and their shared passion for Italian opera break the ice between them, and after a pleasant evening together, Antonio locks himself out of his hotel room and they spend the night together. In the morning, however, she reveals to him that she is married.
Upon arriving at her place, Sandra discovers that she has forgotten her keys and Max takes her to his place. Sandra’s friend is reluctant to offer her a place to stay, as she already has a “guest” whom she met at the bar. Max offers Sandra to stay at his place, and she realizes he is not as rude and arrogant as she first perceived him to be. They spend the night together. In the morning, Max is awoken by a call from his soon-to-be ex-wife, reminding him to take the kids to school. He runs off in a hurry, not before exchanging phone numbers—and names—with Sandra. As Max is staying at the place of a friend, who is away in New York City, Sandra does not recognize the name on the door and thus remains unaware of the fact that he is the husband of her client. Even as they talk at the bar in the evening, and Sandra points out similarities between Max’s divorce and her client, she dismisses the possibility.
Floriana and Marco are spending their honeymoon on a cruise ship, where Marco goes to great lengths to prevent his affectionate, albeit slightly suffocating wife from discovering his attempts to get in touch with Consuelo.
Fabio appears to have calmed down and seems ready to start a new, active life, but on his first day at the gym, he bumps into Esther, who seems to have found someone new already. He runs off to see Rinaldi. The latter is out of the office and his receptionist is just about to go on lunch break, but since Rinaldi is expected to be back in an hour, Fabio agrees to wait in his office. Just as the receptionist has left, Valentina storms into the office. She has just been left by her boyfriend and threatens suicide if the professor (for whom she mistakes Fabio) will not listen to her immediately. Fabio plays the part and learns Valentina’s boyfriend Guido has dumped her with a text message much like the one that Esther had sent him. To Valentina the breakup came as a shock, as she and Guido had agreed on everything, except for their choice of salad—the very difference Esther mentioned in her breakup message to Fabio. Realizing the professor will soon be back, Fabio interrupts the session and agrees to see Valentina again the next day, with whom he has fallen in love instantly.
It is Antonio’s first day at the European Parliament and he encounters the other two Italian MEPs, Pasquale Lo Foco and Giovanni Ventolin. The first person to speak at the session is no one other than Olga Tammsaare, Antonio’s acquaintance from Munich. Antonio is shocked to see her and learn that she is a prime minister. As the three Italian MEPs go for lunch, Lo Foco and Ventolin show Antonio the web sites of escorts the two are frequently seeing, but Antonio’s mind is occupied with Olga and he is, again, put off by the same attitude he has come to dislike in his wife. He reprimands his colleagues for their behavior and leaves the restaurant.
Floriana and Marco have returned from their honeymoon, and it is their first day back at the bank where they both work. Consuelo has just returned from Paris and invites Marco to her place. Marco obtains an alibi from his colleague Marullo so he can sneak away. However, right in front of Consuelo’s place, he is taken hostage by a terrorist trying to escape from the police. The hostage taking is televised live, and Marco scrambles to explain the incident to Floriana, who has followed it on TV.
Antonio receives another call from his wife, who reminds him of his ”goals” and wishes him goodnight. The bad luck he expects it to bring about follows immediately: Lo Foco knocks on his door, asking him to hide an escort in his room, as his wife is coming for a surprise visit. He has just closed the door when Olga knocks outside, and Antonio tells the escort to hide under the bed. Olga, equally shocked upon seeing Antonio at the European Parliament, reminds him to not reveal to anyone what happened in Munich.
Fabio meets Valentina at the entrance door. Claiming that the cleaners are at the practice, he suggests to go to his apartment right above for the session. She reveals that during a sleepless night she has decided to seek out one-night stands, as she has had only three men in her life. That night Fabio has a nightmare about Valentina making out with a plumber. He is woken up by a phone call from Valentina, who asks to postpone their next session because she needs to call the plumber. Terrified, Fabio tries to stop her until she reassures him that the plumber’s visit will be a purely professional one. They meet two days later, and Valentina reveals to Fabio (whom she still believes to be Professor Rinaldi) that she has fallen in love with him and wants to cancel their patient relationship, as the supposed professor’s work ethics presumably prevent him from going any further.
Sandra is summoned to her boss’s office, surprised to find Mrs Marangoni there, who has hired a detective and thus found out about her and Max. Her boss fires her on the spot, and she angrily confronts Max about it, believing he sought her out on purpose. Valentina, when attempting to pay for her sessions with Professor Rinaldi, has also discovered the truth, and makes Fabio an angry scene.
Antonio has travelled to Vilnius to meet Olga again, but she explains that her responsibilities make it impossible for her to continue their relationship. The same day, she phones him and unexpectedly invites him to spend the weekend with her. Antonio accepts, but to his surprise Olga’s husband and two children are also present. During a conversation over dinner, both Olga and her husband mention the sacrifices Olga has made to enter politics, and that she cannot betray the trust her country has placed in her. Antonio is finally convinced not to pursue a romantic relationship with Olga any further.
After Consuelo has unexpectedly turned up at Mario’s workplace and stormed out angrily upon learning that Mario is married to Floriana, Mario continues to pursue her. She demands that Mario choose between Floriana and her. As Floriana is spending an evening out with her friends, he leaves her a note, declaring he is leaving her, and arrives at Consuelo’s door with a suitcase. However, when in an unattended moment he finds her diary, he discovers that she has worked as an escort, frequently changes partners and is just looking for financial security in him, already with no intentions of being faithful. Realizing what he has in Floriana, Marco remorsefully returns home, just in time to grab the note from the hands of Floriana (who has just returned home), ”read” it to her—substituting the content with a declaration of his love for her—and swallows the letter.
Paolo, just having been turned down by a girl, receives a call from Fabio, asking him to deliver a eulogy if “something were to happen” to him. Fabio is ready to jump to his death from a bridge, but his plans are disrupted by the presence of Valentina, who is standing on the brim of the same bridge for the same reason. Fabio finally reveals how Esther dumped him the day before he met Valentina, the same way Guido broke up with Valentina, and falling in love with her her kept him from committing suicide. As both abandon their suicide plans and slowly balance towards each other, Valentina slips and both fall off the bridge, only to land on a boat passing below.
As Sandra is collecting her things in the office, one of her clients comes in with a video of her husband that a friend of hers has filmed in a bar. Her boss is in court for the Marangoni case, so Sandra rushes there and presents the video. It shows Mrs Marangoni with her lover—the husband of her other client—discussing how Sandra and Max met by chance, neither of them knowing that Sandra represented Max’s wife, and how they are going to use it against Max. Max ends up winning the case, and he and Sandra leave the courthouse together before parting ways, as Sandra is leaving the same evening for her new job in London.
Antonio returns home, having resigned from his office, and receives a cold welcome from his wife, who disapproves of his decision. He lectures her on values in politics, and declares that he will return to his pharmacy and divorce her.
One year later, Valentina and Fabio are about to go on vacation. As Valentina enters a shop at the airport, Fabio runs into Esther, who expresses regret at leaving Fabio and suggests that they give it another try. However, Fabio tells her it is too late, as he is now very happy. Meanwhile, inside the shop, Valentina has a similar unexpected encounter with Guido, and Valentina and Fabio walk off together.
Max is about to leave for Berlin. At the airport he bumps into Sandra, who has been visiting her parents in Rome and is returning to London.
Floriana and Marco are leaving for their second honeymoon. At the airport they meet Consuelo, who reveals that she is going on honeymoon as well, having recently married Paolo.
Sandra and Max meet again at the security queue. Max announces that he has changed his flight and is planning to go to London with Sandra, only to learn that she had a similar idea and has booked a flight to Berlin. They spontaneously decide to rebook another time and go to The Bahamas.
Antonio is enjoying the view of the sea from his favorite bench and is unexpectedly joined by Olga (whom he had told about this spot during their weekend in Vilnius). She is on her way to a G20 summit in Naples. Antonio reveals that he has resigned from politics and got divorced, while Olga is still married.
Cast
- Alessandro Gassman: Max Marangoni
- Vincenzo Salemme: Antonio Schiavone
- Ricky Memphis: Fabio
- Enrico Brignano: Marco
- Teresa Mannino: Floriana
- Gabriella Pession: Valentina
- Tosca D'Aquino: Nunzia
- Natasha Stefanenko: Olga Tammsaare
- Paolo Ruffini: Paolo Groppi
- Anna Foglietta: Sandra
- Veronika Logan: Mrs Marangoni
- Elena Barolo: Esther
Trivia
- The country from which Olga is from is never revealed directly. However, Olga speaks Lithuanian at several points in the film, and the scene in which Antonio travels to visit Olga opens with a view of Vilnius. On the other hand, when Olga is shown in what appears to be her office, the Estonian flag is seen in the background, next to the EU flag.
- The film Floriana is watching prior to seeing the live footage of Marco being taken hostage is Many Kisses Later (Italian: Ex), the prequel to the film.