Role-Reversal Nonsense Dominates in Viva la Liberta

From Dave to The Dictator, politicians-replaced-by-doppelgängers has long been a favorite comedy device — yet never has it been employed for more torturous faux-funny business than in Roberto Andò's Viva la Libertà. Squandering all the goodwill he engendered with 2013's superb The Great Beauty, Toni Servillo stars as Enrico, a...

By Nick Schager

February 5, 2015

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From Dave to The Dictator, politicians-replaced-by-doppelgängers has long been a favorite comedy device — yet never has it been employed for more torturous faux-funny business than in Roberto Andò's Viva la Libertà. Squandering all the goodwill he engendered with 2013's superb The Great Beauty, Toni Servillo stars as Enrico, a dour and unpopular politician who abandons his post to hang out with his former girlfriend Danielle (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) in France. Luckily for Enrico's left-in-the-lurch comrades, he has a twin brother no one knows about! And better still, that sibling, professor Giovanni (also Servillo), is a free-thinking (and anti-psychotics-popping!) author and philosopher who charms Italy and fires up his party by spouting haikus and dancing barefoot with dignitaries! Such role-reversal nonsense is predicated on one illogicality after another, and is dominated by dual Servillo turns that are equally one-note and inert. While the story's setup seems fit for broad comedy, director Andò stages his material with such staid delicacy that the entire film is overcome with lethargy — a situation compounded by the lack of a single humorous set piece, or any specifics about the political climate Giovanni reignites. Consequently, everything about Viva la Libertà is generalized, genial, and altogether insufferable.

Nick Schager is a regular film contributor at Voice Media Group. VMG publications include Denver Westword, Miami New Times, Phoenix New Times, Dallas Observer, Houston Press and New Times Broward-Palm Beach.

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