Alessandro Gassman Movies

In this drama from Italy, Diego (Alessandro Gassman) and Shary (Michela Cescon) are a wealthy couple who have rented a luxurious summer house by the sea, which they're sharing with their friends Matteo (Massimo Poggio) and Francesca (Maria de Medeiros). Life is easy until the arrival of David (Thyago Alves), Diego and Shary's handsome son in his early twenties. While everyone likes David, his presence brings out a sense of rivalry and unspoken longings among both couples, and when their friend Leonard (Christo Jivkov), a psychiatrist, arrives, his theories about why so much has changed since David showed up does little to ease anyone's mind. David's Birthday (Il Compleanno) was the second feature film from writer and director Marco Filiberti, following the controversial 2003 release Poco Piu Di Un Anno Fa (aka Adored: Diary Of A Porn Star); the film received its world premiere at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

With Quiet Chaos (Caos Calmo), acclaimed Italian helmer Nanni Moretti steps away from his standard directorial role to essay the lead and co-author the script in a gentle psychological drama directed by Antonello Grimaldi. Moretti stars as Pietro, a film executive whose life takes an irreversible and devastating turn one fateful morning. During a trip to the beach with his brother, Pietro's path intersects with that of a woman, Eleonora (Isabella Ferrari), who is drowning in the ocean; horrified, Pietro rushes in to save her. He subsequently returns home only to discover that his wife, Lara, just died in a nasty falling accident; devastated to the core, this nascent widower must make the necessary psychological accommodations to adjust to life as a single parent, with sole responsibility for raising his ten-year-old daughter, Claudia (Blu Yoshimi). Almost instinctively, as a reaction to Lara's death, Pietro opts to sit and wait for his daughter to finish school each day (in a park across from the school), in lieu of abandoning her to his own priorities and commitments. This means that the fellow's colleagues in the film industry must, by necessity, come to do business with him in the park. Through it all, Pietro remains silently dumbfounded that the tragedy itself hasn't shaken him more, that the grief (the "quiet chaos" of the title) is subtly agonizing instead of grossly traumatizing and debilitating. Nevertheless, he ultimately begins to approach a full realization and acceptance of his loss, and gains an enhanced awareness of himself and others from the potentially crippling events thrust into his path. Valeria Golino (Rain Man) co-stars; Roman Polanski appears in a cameo as one of Pietro's industry colleagues. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Directed by Giuseppe Ferrara, the political thriller I Banchieri Di Dio (God's Bankers) is based on the true-crime saga of the corrupted Banco Ambrosiano and the unsolved murder of bank president Roberto Calvi in 1982. Co-written by Ferrara and Armenia Balducci, the complex story involves the discovery of a trillion lire deficiet in the bank accounts. Calvi (Omero Antonutti) is blamed and thrown in prison. With the help of his wife (Pamela Villoresi), Calvi goes between the corrupt system of political and religious leaders who can get him out of jail. Rutger Hauer appears as Cardianle Marcinkus, the head of the Vatican bank. In March of 2002, an Italian businessman tried to ban Gods Bankers, claiming ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

In this bawdy Italian comedy, Nino (Alessandro Gassman) and his buddy Sergio (Enrico Brignano) are a pair of aspiring actors who decide to move to New York in hope of breaking into the business. Nino and Sergio meet another Italian expatriate at an audition, a sexy young woman named Daisy (Lola Pagnani), and when the trio meet up with part-time actor and most-of-the-time waiter Gaetano (Rocco Papaleo), they get a "brilliant" idea -- as an acting exercise and a way of making a few bucks, they'll pose as a powerful Mafia family that's just arrived in town. The truly remarkable part is that the venerable Don Vito (Vittorio Gassman) actually falls for the ruse, and to shore up his crime empire even tries to arrange a marriage between Nino and his chaste daughter Immacolata (Chiara Muti). A framing device turns most of the action into a movie-within-a-movie, even going so far as to report how well the internal movie did at the box office. Shelley Winters plays an acting teacher in a cameo; Winters and fellow cast member Vittorio Gassman were married from 1952 to 1954. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Tired of his troubled marriage and his profession, an overly tense Italian businessman's life changes dramatically after he learns that an aunt has left him property in Istanbul. Francesco Alessandro Gassman(the son of internationally renowned actor Vittorio Gassman) arrives to the Turkish city hoping that he can take care of the matter swiftly and return to Italy. He is surprised to discover that the property is actually one of the last traditional hamams (old-fashioned bath houses) in Turkey. The lawyer in charge of the inheritance seems to dawdle and this frustrates Francesco who is not used to the slow pace of the neighborhood where the bath is located. But then the family that has been running the Turkish bath for his aunt, takes him in and Francesco gradually rediscovers a long-missing sense of family as he accustoms himself to Turkish culture. Matters become complicated though when the couple's daughter Fusun falls for Francesco, who discovers himself increasingly and disconcertingly interested in her darkly handsome brother Mehmet. The Italian decides to remain in Istanbul for a while to help restore the baths. The situation comes to a head when Francesco's wife arrives to make an announcement. The ensuing conflicts cause Francesco great upheaval, but they also lead him to grow in unexpected ways. Having spent two decades in Italy, Turkish-born filmmaker Ferzan Ozpetek brings a sense of realism in observing the cultural differences between Francesco and his adopted family. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This frothy sex comedy is based on a long-running Italian play and follows the romantic travails of two disparate roommates. While ad-man Alex is a suave lady killer with great confidence in his ability to seduce women, sax player Max is insecure and unsure of himself, something he soothes by drinking too much. While Alex could have any woman, he really pines for the elusive Eleonora, a woman who keeps him at bay while she tries to decide whether or not to remain with her older lover. Max has a brief respite from his inner demons when he falls for Anna, a singer on the romantic rebound from a devastating relationship. Meanwhile Alex' father causes a stir when he gets involved with a much younger woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this soft-porn drama, the oversexed hunk Benito Javier Bardem) spends a good portion of his military service in north Africa dreaming of sex, money and power - but mostly sex. He can barely keep himself in control, and is constantly grabbing his crotch. Somehow, when he is released from the service, he marries the daughter (Maria de Medeiros) of a real moneybags, and he uses some of those resources to build a gigantic skyscraper in the form of a phallus. After a car crash leaves him partially paralyzed and very despondent, his ill-used wife kicks him out and he moves to Miami, where he picks up a woman who (in a reversal of roles) loves 'em and leaves 'em. For some reason, this circumstance cuts our previously almost irrepressibly priapic hero to the heart, and he sobbingly realizes the extent of his losses. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Luciano Odorisio's Italian-made exploitation film La Monaca di Monza travels into the deepest and darkest recesses of a Catholic convent, where a nobleman (Alessandro Gassman) and a nun (Myriem Roussel) engage in a passionate love affair. Little can they foresee the dangerous and calamitous consequences that this will yield -- consequences involving betrayal, vengeance, and homicide. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi