''Reality'' is a 2012 Italian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Matteo Garrone Matteo Garrone (born 15 October 1968) is an Italian filmmaker. Born in Rome, the son of a theatre critic, Nico Garrone and a photographer, in 1996 Garrone won the ''Sacher d'Oro'', an award sponsored by Nanni Moretti, with the short film ''Silh ...

and stars Aniello Arena, Loredana Simioli, and

Claudia Gerini Claudia Gerini (; born 18 December 1971) is an Italian actress and singer. Life and career Born in Rome, Gerini won the National Competition of Miss Teenager in 1985. She got her first part in a film, ''La ballata di Eva'', at 14. She subsequ ...

. The narrative is set in the world of

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

, and follows a Neapolitan fishmonger who participates in ''

Grande Fratello ''Grande Fratello'' is the Italian version of the reality television franchise '' Big Brother''. Begun in September 2000, it has gone on to become a cultural phenomenon in Italy. There have been twenty-one completed seasons as of 2021, sixteen ...

'', the Italian version of ''

Big Brother Big Brother may refer to: * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' ** Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control ** Big Brother Awards, a s ...

''. The film won the

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

award at the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the President of the Jury for the main competition and British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard sectio ...

Plot

Grande Fratello (Big Brother) is a reality television program about boys who live in a fictional house with their day to day actions filmed and broadcast. Luciano, a young fishmonger married with children who lives in Naples, is attracted to this show that is famous in Italy. The program is superficial and silly but well-liked by the public, especially Luciano, the protagonist of the film. After a festive and vulgar marriage between relatives, Luciano returns to his poor life selling fish in the city. Luciano's friends, who are ignorant and dishonest, decide to persuade Luciano to audition for a part as one of the boys in Big Brother. Naively, Luciano is convinced and decides to go to Cinecittà in Rome to audition. At the audition the committee finds Luciano pleasant, though insignificant, and the assistant director dismisses him, saying he will be contacted if selected for the program. However, when Luciano returns to his neighborhood in Naples, he begins going crazy while waiting to hear from the assistant director. He believes he is being watched by hidden cameras from the television program he loves so much and is really happy about them. Luciano believes that appearing generous will win him the part on Big Brother, so he begins to give small gifts to the poor of the city, then spends large amounts of money giving away more expensive items, such as furniture, from his house. His wife and other relatives despair and believe that Luciano is out of his mind. His wife is especially worried and bursts into tears when she meets a friend of Luciano. She asks him why her husband has become so strange and, although he feels a deep sorrow for Luciano's tearful wife, he does not know how to answer. Luciano continues to get worse and is seen laughing for no reason. Finally, he makes a pilgrimage to Rome, and becomes obsessed with studying for his part in Big Brother, which is now his only reason for living.

Cast

Aniello Arena Aniello may refer to: ;Given name *Aniello Ascione (1680–1708), Italian painter of still lifes *Aniello Califano (1870–1919), Italian poet and writer *Aniello Campagna (1607–1648), Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Nusco *Lee Aniello Castald ...

as Luciano *

Loredana Simioli Loredana Simioli (27 February 1974 – 26 June 2019) was an Italian actress, comedian and television host. She often appeared on Canale 9, in particular on the TeleGaribaldi program. Biography Born in Naples on February 27, 1974, she was t ...

as Maria *

as Grande Fratello * Paola Minaccioni as Roman woman *

Ciro Petrone Ciro may refer to: *Ciro (given name), a list of the people who share the Italian and Spanish given name *Ćiro (given name), a list of the people who share the Croatian given name *Ciro (opera), 1654 opera by Francesco Cavalli *Cyrus Cuneo (1879-1 ...

as barista * Nunzia Schiano as Aunt Nunzia *

Nando Paone Nando Paone (born 27 November 1956) is an Italian actor. He appeared in more than thirty films since 1977. Selected filmography References External links * 1956 births Living people Italian male film actors {{Italy-film-actor ...

as Michele *

Arturo Gambardella Arturo is a Spanish and Italian variant of the name Arthur. People *Arturo Álvarez (footballer, born 1985), American-born Salvadoran footballer * Arturo Álvarez (footballer, born 1959), Mexican footballer *Arthuro Henrique Bernhardt (b. 1982), Br ...

as policeman

Production

After winning acclaim with his 2008 crime film '' Gomorrah'', director

wanted a key change for his next project, and decided to make a comedy. The screenplay for ''Reality'' is based on a true story. Garrone describes it as "a simple, working-class tale", not intended as a political treatise. However, it did develop into a darker film than originally planned, and Garrone has expressed doubt as to whether the finished version can be described as a comedy. The film was produced by

Fandango Fandango is a lively partner dance originating from Portugal and Spain, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has ...

and the director's company Archimede. It received co-production support from

Rai Cinema RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

and France's Le Pacte. It also received financial backing from Garance Capital. The 11-week recording began on 5 May 2011. Filming took place in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and Rome. The film had the production title ''Big House''. Actor Aniello Arena, who plays the protagonist, is a convicted former member of the

Camorra The Camorra (; ) is an Italian Mafia-typeMafia and Mafia-type orga ...

who was discovered by director Garrone at a theater play staged by the inmates of the

Volterra Volterra (; Latin: ''Volaterrae'') is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods. History Volt ...

prison. He has served

life in prison Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

for murder since 1991. Garrone sought special permission for him to appear in Gomorrah and was denied, but kept him in mind and insisted for this film.

Release

The film was selected for the main competition of the

. It is Garrones' third time at Cannes; his 2002 film ''The Embalmer'' was screened in the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and kn ...

section, and ''Gomorrah'' played in competition in 2008 and won the

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 80% based on 79 reviews, with an average rating of 6.99/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Part dark satire, part compelling drama, ''Reality'' occasionally struggles to communicate its message, but it's never less than entertaining." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average of score of 76 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

and won the

at the

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reality 2012 films 2012 drama films 2010s Italian-language films Films about psychiatry Italian drama films Films directed by Matteo Garrone Films scored by Alexandre Desplat Cannes Grand Prix winners Fandango (Italian company) films Rai Cinema films