The Audit (second feature)

see also

trailer

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The Audit (L’accertamento)

The Audit (L’accertamento)

The Audit (L’accertamento)

original title:

L’accertamento

directed by:

costume design:

production:

country:

Italy

year:

2000

film run:

90'

format:

colour

release date:

06/06/2001

Two presumably childhood friends, Mario and Giacomo meet on the foggy banks of the river Po to remember the time they spent together in their childhood.
Giacomo remembers every detail, his words reveal nostalgic feelings: he has always lived in the same place which has changed a lot through the years.
Mario doesn't remember anything, he seems to have forgotten all about that time, he thinks he has been mistaken for somebody else but keeps pretending to remember since he is anxious about a certain tax audit, which seats on Giacomo's desk and which could damage him.
Giacomo works at the tax office and he is currently investigating on Mario's affairs who owns a theatre with an ambiguous past.
The two man start playing a sort of pathetic and ironic game, which will turn into an argument about principles and will finally become a summary of their lives, filled with frustration and broken dreams.
During this cruel game, the two could really become friends, but Mario keeps pretending and this prevents them from getting any closer to the truth.
At the end when everything seems to have lead to nothing, suddenly a small detail of an episode of their childhood crosses Mario's mind. He can finally remember a day spent with Giacomo many years before in the middle of a demonstration of farm labourers along the banks of river Po.
The two men's parents used to work on a farm, in the 50's. It was the historical moment when the labourers, exhausted by impossible trade union struggles, were resigning themselves to changes, just like the two man who are now facing changes in their future.