Horst_In_Translation Review of We All Loved Each Other So Much

We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974)

They loved each other so much, but I did not love this movie so much unfortunately

[4/10 · 2 June 2019]

"C'eravamo tanto amati" or "We All Loved Each Other So Much" is an Italian movie that is a mix of black-and-white and color from 1974, so this one has its 45th anniversary this year. Black-and-white, despite how old it is, is not too common for the 1970s anymore, but these scenes are flashback moments or well actually a really really long sequence that takes place decades back when b&w films were still common which may explain it. I shall get to that later. Now the director here is Ettore Scole and he is also part of the writing team here and he is pretty famous still today being among the most known from Italy from his era and this film is one reason why. It is far from forgotten if you take a look at the number of votes and if you take a look at the rating and all the awards recognition it received all over Europe. I watched this film on the big screen here as part of a month-long film series about old Italian comedies (that almost always also had a bit of drama to them). But I must say I was a bit disappointed by this one, actually more than just a bit. It was the very last showing from really many movies and supposed to be a bit of a highlight, but I somehow just did not feel it although I am interested in WWII themed movies and the plot description here sounds interesting too. I must say the black-and-white part did almost nothing for me. And as that one was really long like I said early, it was also a problem as it sort of served as an introduction to meeting and getting to know the characters. But i found it very forgettable. The only funny thing I slightly remember honestly was one scene when a character is at an opera or theater or so and watches the stage and after the third act asks if it is over already and then his woman says nope it is ten acts and he clearly is not amused while obviously trying to hide it and act as if he knew. That was fun, but far from enough of course. The color parts later on were better I suppose. There were a few more memorable moments. Gameshow mayhem was interesting, same about the love struggles involving the characters. And again we see many Italian film greats play themselves. That was a thing back then in several Italian movies, I also saw it in another not too long ago, so it was a bit hilarious to see Fellini and how he gets mixed up with another director (un)intentionally. And Mastroianni of course with his sunglasses who is the coolest cat on the planet. And he sure knows. But yeah when the film really in depth elaborates on the trio of protagonists here, it never managed to win me over. I even like Gassmann and Sandrelli quite a bit in other films and they have great recognition value, but not even they managed to do so this time. Still, the film did have some interesting moments like the loop beginning as good as the jumping into the pool scene that got finished at the end of the movie. So creativity is there for sure on more than just a few occasions. But when it comes to further elaboration, the film was far from a success for me I must say. I wanted to like it more, but I did not. It also felt too long for its own good honestly in my opinion and I rarely use "nothing happened" or "not enough happened" as a negative criticism, but here I would because I think that if nothing really happens, then the character elaboration or development should be more satisfying than I felt it was here. i am really baffled by how many people liked this film and how much they did.