DVD: Human Capital

Italy’s nominee for next year’s Foreign Language Oscar is an ambitious satire on the ruinous machinations of the super-rich, symbolised by the overworked waiter clipped by a speeding SUV in the opening minutes. Three perspectives on the events tangentially leading to his death follow, giving writer-director Paolo Virzi (transplanting Stephen Amidon’s US novel to northern Italy) a broad canvas.

The innocent, snuffed-out waiter isn’t served much better by Virzi, though. He’s a convenient metaphor, around which the film’s intricate puzzle-parts spin. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s Carla, the beautiful, brittle wife of ruthless hedge fund manager Bernaschi, embodies wasted human capital. Her perspective on the story begins with her making her chauffeur spin the car aimlessly, barely suppressing panic as she chooses how to spend her empty day. Carla’s efforts to reopen a local theatre, indulged by Bernaschi with a sliver of his loot, rekindle memories of her purposeful youth as an amateur actress, but lead to some of the film’s most bitter social comedy. Tilda Swinton played a wealthy northern Italian’s trophy wife to great acclaim in the more baroque and satisfying I Am Love, but Bruni Tedeschi is at least as haunting as this sensual, miserable, condescended-to capitalist’s wife.

The presence of another tremendous Italian actress, Valeria Golina, in a supporting role shows Human Capital’s acting wealth. It works best as a queasy comedy of manners, as in the style of the opening section, following Dino (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) as he practically begs Bernaschi to ruin him in a hedge fund scheme. Later attempts to turn his film into a tragedy lay bare Virzi’s over-schematic structure, while he can’t equal his cast’s great work in bringing it to cinematic life. It all falls a bit flat, but has characters worth meeting.