Are Italian funny farms supposed to look like day camp? I really hope the security is slightly better than an unalarmed swinging gate for, you know, people who might be, I dunno, dangerous. But I suppose “dangerous” is only a state of mind … besides what fun is a plot about two farm escapees if they can’t escape, huh?
Given other circumstances, Beatrice (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) could be mistaken for a contessa, a lady of leisure, or in the very least, a barfly. My guess is that her fundamental lack of boundaries offended exactly the wrong person at the wrong time, and now she spends her days poking her nose into underapplied regulations and off-limits case files. She greets the new girl, Donatella (Micaela Ramazzotti), by posing as her doctor. This is who Beatrice is: flamboyant, rude, and completely in her own world; she lives quite beyond the understanding of how wrong her actions might be – it would be charming were this not also true of the current President. Beatrice interrupts her Donatella obsession briefly by stealing a phone to crank call her judge at three in the morning. Again. I guess she doesn’t tweet.
One wouldn’t blame Donatella for telling Beatrice to stick a sock in her penne-hole, but having a boundary-challenged companion comes in handy when you escape from a mental home (as the two do shortly thereafter). You don’t exactly expect somebody to follow: “Beatrice and Donatella, you’ve just escaped from a mental home, what are you going to do now?” with “We’re going to Disneyland!” OTOH, I didn’t exactly expect the first stop would be for a psychic reading, either. Do Italian women generally line up by the score on sweltering summer days to get their fortunes told? That’s nuts! After Beatrice hijacks the reading, the adventure truly begins – why not steal a car and hit an all-night casino? Way to keep a low profile, donne. At this point, Like Crazy becomes a little like Thelma & Louise were Thelma an insane motor-mouth. I had no idea how fine a line there was between “jabber jaw” and “con artist.”
Not to be confused with the 2011 tragic romance (well, of course it was tragic, Felicity Jones is from Star Wars and the late Anton Yelchin belonged to Star Trek), this Like Crazy is not about the beginning of romance but the tragic consequences beyond the bliss. Even crazy
understands failure. Both of these women know exactly how disappointing adult relationships can be, but their approach to that understanding is an almost comical contrast.
Like Crazy is a sleepily complex picture, as is the case with many films about mental imbalance. You can’t just show the fun side of being crazy, because, let’s face it, in many cases there ain’t none. Donatella has former-lover issues so deeply rooted that she might not be capable of making unsupervised choices. This is one of those “if you don’t end up in tears at some point, you might not be human” films … which is a far departure from two literally crazy gals deciding to party at a casino until dawn. Hence, the film is a bit of an emotional smorgasbord; step up, folks, and fill your plate with whatever you want: hmmmm, I want a helping of guffaw, with some thrill and a side of tears … sure! Avoid the horror; it’s not fresh tonight.
Two women escape from the farm
The authorities sound the alarm
When it comes to insane
The truth, sadly plain:
La libertà is just Italian for “harm”
Not Rated, 118 Minutes
D: Paolo Virzì
W: Paolo Virzì & Francesca Archibugi
Genre: Taking some time off from the asylum
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Misunderstood single mothers
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Social workers
