Signore e signori, buonanotte

Vittorio Gassman,Senta Berger,Marcello Mastroianni

An episodic satire of the political and social status of Italy in the 1970s, through the shows of one day of a television channel: an English-language lesson turns into the killing of a black dignitary of an embassy by a CIA agent and then into his own killing by another colleague; in a television film, the police are fooled by a fake bomb and plant a real one to avoid public derision; in a film inquisition show, the Bishop of Naples speaks highly of the importance of the family while a child with a miserable home life kills himself; in the debate that follows it is proposed that they should eat the children, as Swift had said. In the next episode, a general who is in the toilet is summoned for the NATO parade, but the flasher breaks and in his effort to fix it, he messes all over and kills himself. In a children's show an inspector finds excuses to delay the arrest of a powerful man; in an inquiry a pensioner is happy with his petty pension, but cries when he hears the word 'fillet'; on a quiz show there is a contest for misery; i n Pope's elections Cardinals kill each other's voters and finally decide to temporarily elect an ailing Cardinal, but once he is elected he reveals his authoritarian face. A number of other issues are satirized through the news and advertisements between shows.—Alkistis Zografou