Dino Risi’s Il sorpasso: (Im)mobility in the Economic Boom Years

Abstract

Through a detailed description and analysis of Il sorpasso by Dino Risi (1962), one of the most popular films of the “Italian comedy of the boom years” genre, my study explores the notion of mobility in the Italian society of the economic boom years (1958-1963). In those years, the car worked as the engine of the economic prosperity, which was first set in motion and then fueled by the car factories of the North of Italy, and because it was one of the first products to be mass-produced, it also served as the image of the first Italian consumer-driven society. This is probably the reason why a car, the Lancia “America”, is at the center of the film narrative. First, I address the issue of the transposition from Italian into French, Spanish and English of the film title to highlight what themes of the film narrative are foregrounded by the recreation of the title for different cultures. Then, starting from the original Italian title, Il sorpasso –a far richer and more complex title than any of its transpositions in other languages—I investigate the different meanings of “mobility” conveyed by the film to demonstrate that the contrast between the fast-paced but purposeful camerawork and the main character’s frantic and aimless driving creates a visual representation of the struggle to adjust to the rapid process of cultural and social transformation of the late 1950s and early 1960s many Italians experienced.