Word: bruno
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...know? Simple. Bruno has a sidekick during two frantic days, a callow, sallow law student named Roberto, so shy he won't call for help when accidentally locked in a public bathroom. The Playboy asks the Law student, "Why not throw yourself into life," and the Law Student cleverly counters, "I worry where I'm going to fall." The Playboy mutters to us all, "You're right, I'm the fool." Clunk...
Amazingly enough, the cliche is convincing on the screen. One reason clearly is Vittorio Gassman, who plays Bruno with such vitality and abandon that the playboy's frenzy to "live every minute" seems only partially pathetic. Such a life can be rich and genuinely enjoyable. His experiences are no more superficial than most experiences in life...
Because of the force of his personality and because his extroverted life lends itself well to visual presentation, Bruno dominates the screen. But he never really changes and, though he at first overshadows the law student, Roberto's silent, internal development assumes prime significance. Enchanted by the older man, Roberto (Jean Louis Trintignant) gradually becomes emancipated from his Caspar Milquetoast past. Bruno catalyzes Roberto's transformation. For example, the law student loses a bit of his innocence only when Bruno reveals the old family caretaker, Gaylord, as a homosexual...
Director Risi reveals the shallow, lonely aspects of Bruno's life poignantly yet comically. Long separated from his wife, Bruno visits his old home for the first time in three years. He dismisses his beautiful young daughter (Catherine Spaak) with advice to go out with younger guys (she deftly defends her aging fiancee: "Marriages of love often don't succeed. I'll go to Harvard to study and work in his research department.") and winds up in his wife's bedroom. Momentarily awakened to the wasted opportunities of the past and the emptiness of the present, he reaches...
Only in the last scene does The Easy Life abandon its humor. Smarting from the recognition of his own innocence, still enchanted by the exuberant playboy, Roberto suddenly completes his metamorphosis from wonkdom. Heady with a taste of Bruno's freedom, he urges Bruno to drive on a winding mountain road at breakneck speed. And that's exactly what Bruno does. Roberto goes over the cliffe with the sports car. Bruno is tossed safely aside, just in the nick of time. As Bruno views Roberto's corpse, he is reminded of the value of friendship and human beings. And Roberto...