Who thinks that remaking a foreign production in Italy, whether it be a film or a series, is an act devoid of autonomy and authorship, resting on the creativity and gaze of others, is wrong. All time. In the difference that exists between Dix Pour Cent (from us Call my agent! on Netflix) and its Italian adaptation, Call My Agent – Italy, broadcast on Sky and streamed on Now, lies a good part of the cultural difference between France and Italy. Despite an absolutely identical surface (even the casting of the lead actors is almost the same), the two series are very different in soul, they talk about two different worlds of cinema and above all they talk about two different cultures, two different ways of experiencing fame, the relationship with one’s image and success. It has nothing to do with the violent and insurrectionary teasing of Borisdoesn’t have the anger and it doesn’t have the comic density, indeed maybe it’s the opposite because it is on the side of industry. Yet in some ways this series, in subtle ways, is the complement of Boris.
Call My Agent – Italy: the cast of characters and the plot
Call My Agent – Italy tells of an agency of actors and directors (but they also represent musicians, TV personalities and so on), i protagonists it’s the people who work there, mainly 4 agents and a newcomer, and in addition to the horizontal plot that goes on in the 6 episodes, each episode is centered on the problems that are posed to the agents by one of their particular talents. The secret of the format is that in the part of the talents there are the talents themselves. Paolo Sorrentino, Pierfrancesco Favino, Stephen Accorsi, Matilda DeAngelis, Paula Cortellesi And Conrad Guzzanti in the part of themselves they are the main ones, but Paolo Genovese, Joe Bastianich, Anna Ferzetti and others also make brief appearances. The mission, clearly, is to promote Italian cinema, exalt it and make it legendary. It is also true for the original French, but here the outcome is a bit more complex.
The stories of the individual episodes are often the same as the French and overall the narrative arc of the first season tells the same story. As mentioned superficially, she is very faithful. Instead, intimately Call My Agent – Italy it’s a series endowed with completely different strengths and weaknesses, a variation on the French theme that speaks a lot about ours film industry and, like it or not, she exposes her fatigue, suffering and the perception that she herself has of being an empire in crisis (the location in Piazza del Popolo is, in this sense, perfect). The whole season thrives on a continuous exaltation of the Italian movies (real) that are mentioned, there is an excitement in the eyes of the characters when they talk about Italian films that not even the actors (really in part, very good and well directed) are able to make real. In a very well acted series, whenever a film or an author is spoken well it seems that the characters (and not the actors) are acting so much they exaggerate and that forced exaltation is a bit detached from the naturalism of the writing. Which is perhaps the most truthful that can be represented in Italian cinema.
Call My Agent – Italy: the review of Esquire
Compared to the original, the Italian version it is much more bent on talent, that is, it is much more on their side. Even those who make fun of themselves struggle to do it in a radical way as most of the French ones do and everyone still has a moment in which to make a good impression or say something important. Maybe just Matilda DeAngelis goes all-in and agrees not to make a good impression at all costs. It is no coincidence that hers isfunniest episode and she is the actress who comes out best. The terror that one’s image isn’t immaculate contaminates the series, which is another detail that speaks volumes about the strange relationship we have with success in all fields, the idea that no one ever really deserves it, from which the need to always prove that one deserves it by exhibiting high moral standards. Yet all this does not sink Call My Agent – Italy.
Lisa Nur Sultan did all the adaptation and all the writing of the 6 episodeshas given this series which in the original is pure premium TV (i.e. series from paid channels, high-profile, refined and sophisticated) also more mainstream notes, from free generalist channels, and above all a humor which isn’t there in the original, at least not that strong, not that sophisticated, not that subtle. Working in concert with many of the talents, their parts are stronger, more characterised, more ironic (which seems counterintuitive, since they make fun of each other less, but the two things manage to coexist). Our industry struggles to be natural when it wants to portray itself well but is unrivaled when it has to make fun of itself. The amount of fake movies, made-up series, speculated projects, and artfully crafted storylines from the series are hilarious and make the perfect parody of many Italian productions, recounting a way of reasoning of which the same Call My Agent she is a daughter and they criticize a whole system as a rebound.
Although those who have seen the original may have a little difficulty initially, precisely because of this identity on the surface and this radical change of tone in depth, Call My Agent it’s a very interesting series as well as enjoyable and entertaining, directed with great comedy property and an uncommon skill in directing the actors. Lisa Nur Sultan (not from today) is very good with dialogues, with the language spoken by people, the spontaneity of interactions and she knows how to use this to describe a character just by how she speaks. The work of acting then complete the circle. In a seriality, ours, in which comedic products are very few, this remake discards French humor and embraces ours without hesitation, proposing it and at the same time using it.
The best moment: Corrado Guzzanti and Emanuela Fanelli
The final demonstration comes with the one character and thus the only added and original plot line, that of Emmanuel Fanelli. She doesn’t play herself but an actress that no one wants, author of bankruptcy plays and always a victim, she rages in almost all the episodes obsessing her agent because she doesn’t work, until she has, in the last episode , a dedicated plot together with Conrad Guzzanti (who instead plays himself). Not by chance it is one of the best momentswritten at different levels of depth, from the simplest dynamic between the two, in which Guzzanti doesn’t want to work with her but she seems to screw him over, to the more complex Italian obsession with template Fleabag, for actors who are also authors, subjection to American talent and so on. They are characteristic features of the Italian industry but inside, as already happened inside Borisit is not difficult to see characteristic traits of us Italians.
Call My Agent Italy is proof that no one knows how to fool themselves like us