Brunello Cucinelli in the docu (photo Stefano Schirato)
With «Brunello, the polite visionary» Giuseppe Tornatore constructs a work that escapes any definition: not documentary, not fiction film, not promotional content even though, as the director himself states, it is «all these genres together». The result is a hybrid and surprisingly intimate cinematic tale, dedicated to Brunello Cucinelli, the entrepreneur-philosopher who made the Umbrian village of Solomeo not only the headquarters of his company and the fulcrum of his private life, but also the symbol of a human capitalism: slow, respectful of people and the environment, a model of cultural rebirth which even includes a theater and a library with thousands of volumes, dedicated above all to philosophy, his always passion.
The work was previewed at Cinecittà and will be in theaters from today to Thursday. Filming, intermittent, lasted 2 years, editing lasted one. And no scene was cut or modified, because Brunello gave carte blanche to the director/poet, author of his favorite film, «Nuovo Cinema Paradiso». «I also declare – underlines Cucinelli – that I would be willing to finance a good love film, one of those that are no longer seen… as long as I like it».
The film retraces Cucinelli’s existential parable, from his peasant roots, in a farmhouse in Umbria, without water or electricity and in close contact with animals, to his industrial rise. In a long flashback, the adult Brunello observes “from the outside” the events of his life, in particular his adolescence and youth, at the bar university, and the labors of his father, first a sharecropper and then a worker, developing a new vision of work as redemption for the humiliations of his parent: a place where moral and economic dignity cannot be sacrificed to profit.
Testimonials, archive images and personal memories show a man who, from humble origins, built a world-famous company while maintaining the values of humanity and social justice. The Oscar-winning Sicilian director chooses the metaphor of a card game to tell a 70-year story, a cross-section of Italian life. The actors are all non-professionals, with the exception of Saul Nanni (Tancredi from the «The Leopard» series), who plays Cucinelli as a boy. The original music by Nicola Piovani is heartbreaking, happy to collaborate on an opera “of those that are now difficult to find”.