With the Winter Film Festival starting up at the Dietrich Theater in a few weeks (Feb. 21 - March 13), I wanted to take a look at a previous film festival selection that I missed. I plan on checking out another prior selection soon when I get started with my Winter Fest reviews.
So, let’s get started and talk about the 2023 independent film “Ferrari.”
“Ferrari” is set during the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle and danger of 1950s Formula One, ex-racer, Enzo Ferrari, is in crisis.
Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the acknowledgement of another.
His drivers’ lust to win pushes them out to the edge. He wagers all in a roll of the dice on one race, the treacherous 1,000 mile race across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.
This Michael Mann-directed biopic delivers some well acted performances from Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz. The film primarily focuses on a period in their lives where things aren’t looking that great as Enzo Ferrari wagers on the biggest gamble of his career.
On the topic of the film’s performances, even though Adam Driver gave a great performance as Enzo Ferrari (as he usually does), Penelope Cruz is simply incredible as his wife, Laura. Her character has been severely depressed since the tragic death of their son and Cruz really knocks it out of the park with some very emotional moments she has.
Some of their scenes together can be quite strong at times, especially once Laura finally finds out about Ferrari’s affair and his other son, which is also another pivotal plot point in this film.
The film does a great job diving into Ferrari’s personal life, as well as his business that is up in the air due to some over-spending. Yet, there are some times throughout the film where those scenes can slow the film down just a little bit.
“Ferrari” also features some sequences where we see his cars in action. In the film, we see a couple scenes where Ferrari’s driver’s are test driving the cars, getting ready for the big race.
The entire Mille Miglia race sequence is also fun to watch for the most part, despite the fact that the film’s pace can seem a little slow during a tiny bit of the race. The 2023 film also shows us the crash that made this particular Mille Miglia race iconic and memorable. I read somewhere that this film did a decent recreation of the terrible accident.
Overall, “Ferrari” is a nice biopic to check out if you enjoy either biopics in general or anything that has to do with the history of cars. Indeed this film can be a little slow moving at times, but this award-worthy film should be seen!
Cast: Adam Driver (Enzo Ferrari); Penelope Cruz (Laura Ferrari); Shailene Woodley (Lina Lardi); Sarah Gadon (Linda Christian); Gabriel Leone (Alfonso de Portago); Jack O’Connell (Peter Collins); Lino Musella (Sergio Seaglietti); Ben Collins (Stirling Moss); Patrick Dempsey (Piero Taruffi).
Writer/director: Troy Kennedy Martin (writer) (Red Heat; the original The Italian Job); Michael Mann (director) (Blackhat; Public Enemies; Collateral; Heat)
Trivia: Both Ferrari and Maserati cars are painted red. Though confusing for the viewer, this is historically accurate. At the time the film is set, cars were colored according to nationality. Italian cars were red, French cars were blue, German cars were white and British cars were dark green.
“Ferrari” has also earned quite a few accolades during its theatrical run and was named one of the Top Ten Films in December 2023 by the National Board of Review.
MPAA: R for some violent content/graphic images, sexual content and language (running time 130 minutes)
Where to find the film? You can currently stream “Ferrari” on Hulu/Disney Plus and also rent it online via Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Fandango and YouTube.
Both Ferrari and Maserati cars are painted red. Though confusing for the viewer, this is historically accurate. At the time the film is set, cars were coloured according to nationality. Italian cars were red, French ones Blue, German ones White and British ones dark green.
For insurance reasons, Adam Driver wasn't permitted to drive any of the original classic race cars. Co-star Patrick Dempsey drove replicas of the open-topped cars, which offered no protection to the exposed drivers.
Due to the high death toll among both drivers and spectators, the 1957 Mille Miglia was the last in its original format. There had been 56 known deaths in 24 runnings (1927-1939 and 1947-1957), with 35 in the last ten years as the cars got faster. A safer version was held from 1958-1961, then the Mille Miglia was permanently cancelled. Since 1977, the Mille Miglia has been reborn as a regularity race for classic and vintage cars.
Michael Mann had been trying to get the film made for 30 years. An article from 1993 reveals that Mann was developing this biopic with Robert De Niro attached to star, as his follow-up to The Last of the Mohicans (1992). Mann and De Niro ended up working together on Heat (1995).
Penélope Cruz was keen to take on the role of Laura Ferrari as she felt that depressed women - especially ones still reeling from the death of their child - is an area that is often left unexplored onscreen.
STX Entertainment acquired the distribution rights from Paramount Pictures. STX planned to release the film on Paramount+ via Showtime, but eventually instead licensed the domestic rights. Neon bought the domestic rights for $15 million. Neon spent another $17 million marketing the film. The film eventually grossed $18.6 million at the domestic box office, slightly over Neon's expectations of $17.5 million box office gross.
The film had its world premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2023.
Enzo is often times wearing tinted glasses throughout the movie. In real-life Enzo Ferrari wore tinted glasses for the rest of his life after the death of his son Dino, who died in 1956 at 24 years old due to muscular dystrophy.
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