À cheval sur le tigre

A farcical escape comedy that is livened up by an unreliable narrator, a notorious liar put behind bars for faking an assault on himself, and is then forcibly transformed in the final act into a raw, neorealistic social satire showing the other side of the Italian economic miracle (which corresponds to the fact that the film was directed by a “pink” neorealist). The same impression of incoherence is evoked by the digression from the “first-person” narrative (a conversation between one of the prisoners and his wife, which the protagonist was not present for) solely for the purpose of highlighting the social-realist thematic level. The gradual transition from ironic detachment to melodramatic pathos is accompanied by a sudden (and thus unconvincing) attempt to show the escapees in a better world. Due to the fact that for most of the time they are presented to us as a bunch of interchangeable imbeciles, it is difficult to suddenly start respecting them and sympathising with them. The film’s strong cast and a few humorously composed shots can’t overcome the embarrassment of its inconsistency. 60% (26/02/2014)