One of the more peculiar foibles of the early 21st Century is undoubtedly the urge that otherwise responsible adults seem to have for dressing up in school uniforms and attending 'school disco' nights. God knows what causes this, as when you give it any thought it really is rather strange. You spend all of your life praying for the moment at which you'll be able to burn that bloody blazer, shred those sodding shorts and get to wear jeans (or, in my case, velvet) all day. Then, when you can actually do this, you volunteer, in the name 'fun' to revert to the tie and sandals.
Furthermore, just adding insult to injury, you then volunteer to listen to all of the music that you deliberately blanked out when you knew better and hadn't yet discovered crap irony. School, like the eighties, is something that should never be granted the privilege of being retro. To do so is to insult those of us who had to live through it.
Nonetheless, some of the reasons for this odious activity do become clearer when watching the likes of Le dicciotenni. To be more specific, there is a certain allure in watching a gaggle of suspiciously mature young ladies wander around dressed up like sixteen year olds (minus the acne, flick haircuts and penchant for being seriously annoying in the back of buses).
Now if my personal institution of education had been anything like that portrayed in this film, I probably would have been more willing to entertain thoughts of it as some kind of utopian existence. I mean, they have their food brought to their rooms on trays by servants! My food was bought by me from a canteen and consumed in the tiny corner of yard gratified by the salubrious name of 'Smoker's Corner' .
Anyway, in this particular upper-class academy it would seem that a number of the girls have taken a fancy to the fresh-faced physics tutor, Professor Andrea La Rovere (fresh-faced Antonio De Teffè ). When the headmistress happens to look through the diaries of some of her charges she finds out as much and issues Andrea with a warning not to encourage their adolescent feelings.
Two girls, in particular, are besotted with him: the vivacious, popular Anna (Marisa Allasio) and the swotty, shy Maria (Virna Lisi ). The fact that they don't much like each other doesn't help, so much competitive cooking, piano playing and bitching follows (the education curriculum has obviously shrunk since the 50s, then).
One night, Anna and her pals spy on Maria and witness her embrace an unidentified man. They erroneously suspect that it is Andrea and Anna, consumed by jealousy, tittle-tattles to the headmistress. Maria is grounded whilst awaiting her expulsion and, in an emotional state, climbs from her window and attempts to escape. Unfortunately she succeeds only in falling of a wall and is gravely injured. It turns out that she had been secretly meeting up with her estranged father, who is currently on the run from the police for a crime he didn't commit. The only thing that will be able to save her is a prompt blood transfusion. Anna, suffering from guilt, volunteers to be her donor.
Le dicciotenni is a rather minor, undoubtedly well made film. Despite the potential for St Trinians type farce, it sticks to its guns as a coming of age melodrama - more content to develop its characters than raise a cheap laugh. Unfortunately, this does mean that it's a bit earnest, and could definitely do with a healthy dose of puerile humour. There are some good performances (despite Steffen being rather wooden) from a range of Italian character actors and, of course, there's the gorgeous Virna Lisi, who would go on to become rather a star in the 1960s.
Mario Mattoli was one of the most respected of Italian filmmakers. Specialising in light comedies and melodramas, his career as a director commenced in 1934 with Tempo massimo , included over 80 titles and ended with the rather bathetic Lando Buzzanca vehicle For a Few Dollars Less (Per qualche dollaro in meno, 66). Several of his films were extremely successful domestically, but few were seen outside of Italy . His craftsmanship here is distinguished, but it has to be said that there's probably less of interest to the contemporary viewer than in a variety of other, less capable (and less heart-warming) productions.
Matt B
