Mario Martone’s drama about the legendary Neapolitan comedian Eduardo Scarpetta was a notable premiere at the Venice International Film Festival 2021.
Eduardo Scarpetta was a well-known actor, playwright, and comedian from Naples. The King of Laughter explores the events of 1904, when Scarpetta’s theater was on the verge of collapse due to a lawsuit for plagiarism brought by the decadent writer Gabriele D’Annunzio.
In the early 2000s, Mario Martone, one of the best-known Italian film directors, was director of Rome’s Teatro Argentina. In telling the story of two authors and theater directors of the past—Scarpetta and D’Annunzio—he brings together two approaches to art and politics. Scarpetta’s theater was a mass spectacle, accessible with elements of tragedy. Poet D’Annunzio’s productions were an experiment in creating a new language and a search for the boundaries of expression, mysterious actions that were accessible only to the Italian elite. In terms of politics, the former was a continuation of traditional values and was supported by conservatives, which became very clear during the court case between the authors. Gabriele D’Annunzio had a group of admirers who were innovators and adherents of «true» art. Their mockery of Scarpetta and cruel methods hinted at the poet’s future: he would soon become an associate of Mussolini.
Martone also described this social shift as part of Scarpetta’s personal life. His role as the patriarch of an enormous family where everyone was destined to perform in the family theater gradually fell apart. The children he had with his lover discovered their origin and professional failures led to Eduardo becoming anxious and cruel. The ethics of Scarpetta’s actions, regardless of the result of the court case, would threaten the future of his theater and his legacy.
This complex theatrical character is brilliantly played by Toni Servillo, the favorite actor of Italian director Paolo Sorrentino.
The film will be shown in Italian with Russian subtitles.
The King of Laughter
Director Mario Martone
Italy, Spain, 2021. 133 min.
16+