 focuses on Enzo Ferrari caught between his dissolving relationships){kind=link}
Much of Michael Mann’s Ferrari (written by Troy Kennedy Martin) focuses on Enzo Ferrari (played by Adam Driver) caught between his dissolving relationship with his wife Laura (played by Penélope Cruz) and his long-time mistress Lina (played by Shailene Woodley) and their son Piero (played by Giuseppe Festinese). It pairs this relationship drama with the lead-up to and events of a race that will determine whether Ferrari can become solvent.
We live 66 years from the events of the film, and Ferrari is still known today for speed and luxury, so audience members going in know that the events that will take place will end up not resulting in the dissolution of the Ferrari car company. That said, very early in the race storyline, during a test drive one of Ferrari’s drivers crashes and dies. This lets us know Ferrari has been litigated in the press for safety issues in his cars before, and it sets us up for the events that will transpire during the climactic race.
The events of that race are not a spoiler, again, it’s a historic event, and the film does a lot to foreshadow it. But I want to focus on the filming of the actual race. It was exhilarating. I was on the edge of my seat. The cars whip around narrow city streets at times, often closely lined by people. I was surprised when the first car crashed out during one of the city parts of the course, we didn’t hear reports of bystander casualties. You never knew what to expect as drivers and cars jockeyed for position, whether a car would overtake safely, or lead to themselves or another car crashing out in some way.
The film does a good job of balancing drama and humour and that’s what helps drive the action forward and gives it a good pace, while also relieving tension. With one of the crashouts during the race, it’s more of an off-road skid, and a competing driver picks them up with a joke. But the majority of the humour stems from Penélope’s Cruz’s Laura. The humour comes from her delivery but is rooted in grief, she is a woman who will always be grieving her dead son. This film is very much about Ferrari, the man, and his cars, and as a result, every other character just obits him, and most are not given much time to become more than caricatures. Of the female characters, Laura has the most agency. She negotiates, and she threatens, always in congress with her grief, as she navigates what it means to be the wife of Ferrari whose son died.
The other female characters are not granted the same amount of character agency. Scenes with Lina seemed to be used mainly to soften Enzo. With her, he can be a man in love and father. Even if he cannot claim them publicly. And that is the crux of her storyline, trying to gain her son legitimacy before his communion. She does not have as much agency as Laura. She is relegated to the farmhouse, waiting for Enzo to finally make a move. Then there’s Linda Christian (played by Sarah Gadon, who is brought into Enzo’s obit because of her relationship with his new driver, Alfonso “The Portago” De Portago (played by Gabriel Leone). Despite being a working actor, we still only know Linda in relation to The Portago, and via him, Ferrari, who grabs her, causing her to flinch when they take a picture for the press. The role seems so underdeveloped and peripheral. If it wasn’t in a Michael Mann film, I could not imagine someone with the credits of Sarah Gadon taking the part. And I understand. If I were an actor, I would’ve signed on for any role in this film because it will deserve the buzz that will likely come its way this award season. It was an exhilarating 2 hours and 11 minutes. I was engaged, I laughed, and I gasped.
Ferrari will screen December 7th and 8th at the 3rd Annual Red Sea International Film Festival as part of the International Spectacular section. It will open in theatres in North America on December 25th.
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