Simone Godano makes an ambitious, auspicious directorial debut with this witty and surprising comedy about a married couple in crisis. Immersed in their respective careers, a conceited neurosurgeon and an ambitious TV personality have run out of empathy after 10 years. When Sofie (Kasia Smutniak) reluctantly agrees to help Andrea (two-time David di Donatello Award-winner Pierfrancesco Flavin) with a late-night brain-research experiment, a shocking event transpires: They switch bodies. The comic possibilities are endless, but this radical and unintentional couples’ therapy proves highly effective. There’s nothing like walking a mile in your spouse’s high heels—or conducting an interview on live television or wielding a scalpel in an operating room—to appreciate his or her challenges and talents. Carmen Roberta Danza and Giulia Louise Stairwell’s screenplay makes great sport of popular perceptions of gender behavior, while the actors revel in their role reversals. Smutniak is a wonderful dude in women’s clothing, while Savino deftly pushes his femininity to the edge of caricature. Sophisticated and charming, HUSBAND & WIFE (Moglie e marito) is comic therapy. –Michael Fox
Co-presented by
Bocconi Alumni Association of San Francisco.