In the figure of Ettore Zambrini, a small industrialist with a dream of opening a factory overlooking the Autostrada del Sole, Montaldo offers us an effective narrative transposition of the 'animal spirits' that governed the economic boom in Italy at the time. He is a character of contradictory humanity: capable of handling business, overdue bills, trade union relations, marital betrayal, but also the passion that binds him to his wife with equal unscrupulousness.
Acting
Salvatori's sweaty desperation is uncomfortably perfect.
Direction
Montaldo captures boom-time Italy like a fever.
Cinematography
The Autostrada as character — promise and emptiness.
Director
Giuliano Montaldo
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'Autostrada del Sole' was a symbol of Italian modernization; Montaldo turns infrastructure into existential void.
Salvatori, typically cast as working-class heroes, here plays a petty bourgeois monster — reportedly his favorite role.
IT
