“AND the story of a miracle that will change the lives of two people and their families forever”, it begins like this If I were youminiseries with Marco Bocci and Laura Chiatti broadcast tonight and tomorrow at 9.30pm on Rai 1. It presents itself as a Christmas fairy tale, which uses the expedient of body swapping (as in Big or in the most recent film Wife and husband) to reflect on work ethics, on who we are, on prejudices and on how very often we don’t put ourselves in other people’s shoes.
As in An armchair for twohere too the directors Luca Lucini and Simona Ruggeri use the game of contrast between rich and poor. A comedy classic. Valentina is a manager in her father’s panettone company, with a very comfortable life, with a husband and a son; Massimo is a worker who sweats every day, who lives with his father and children after the death of his wife. Something supernatural happens to the two polar opposite characters, which will make them reflect on their own behaviors
If I were you: plot and previews of the December 28 episode of the miniseries on Rai 1 and RaiPlay
Massimo Mancuso (Marco Bocci) is a worker at the Sangiorgi panettone company who lives day to day with his father Oscar (Nino Frassica) and his two children Anna and Pietro. Valentina (Laura Chiatti) lives a comfortable life, she is a manager in the company of her father where Marco works, she has an unreliable son (Filippo) and a husband who cheats on her. The Christmas does not bring good news for the worker who was left without a wife 4 years earlier: business at Sangiorgi is going badly and the company is forced to cut heads.
Marco has another, much bigger problem: her son Pietro, who would like to become a footballer, has a heart malformation like his mother, and would need to be operated on urgently. They would be useful 25 thousand euros that Marco doesn’t have. The worker asks Sangiorgi for an advance on severance pay which she does not grant. Precisely on the anniversary of his wife’s death, the man goes to the cemetery and something incredible happens there: an exchange of bodies between his and that of the hated Valentina.
The manager was also at the cemetery that day to greet his brotherwho also died four years earlier, on the same day as Michela. Marco and Valentina will now have to deal with the swapped bodies and families. Between ironic and embarrassing moments they will learn to know and understand each other better. Valentina, in Marco’s body, starts working on the mixer together with the workers, while Marco he ends up in her mega villa, but not all that glitters is gold: her husband cheats on Valentina and her son Filippo hasn’t attended university for months. One enters the other’s life waiting to understand how to return to their respective bodies.
Laura Chiatti and Marco Bocci’s first time on set
Laura Chiatti and Marco Bocci act together for the first time. It had already happened that the husband directed the wife in the film The huntbut If I were you it’s their first set as fellow actors. «It was awkward at first because when you act it’s like undressing – says Bocci – I felt fragile and naked in front of her. Once I found the balance, however, I had a lot of fun.”
«We have been asked to work together many timesbut I have always tried to maintain a certain distance between work and private life – says Laura Chiatti – I wanted to preserve the couple. From one point of view I was intrigued by the idea of sharing the set with my husband, on the other it worried me – she admits – I had performance anxiety: Usually I’m used to sharing a dinner, not a scene.”
Laura Chiatti and Marco Bocci in “If I were you”. (Courtesy press office)
The cast and characters of If I were you
Laura Chiatti plays a manager in the family businessbut is considered incapable by her father (Bebo Storti) and her husband Giacomo (Vincenzo Ferrera), who is also on the Sangiorgi staff. «Valentina is a proud and privileged woman who seems to need nothinginstead she misses being valued by her father, who doesn’t encourage her to believe in herself. When he enters Marco’s body he manages to find a connection affectively and to find a new impetus within oneself».
Marco Bocci is Massimo, a worker dealing with bereavement and a sick son and with the loss of one’s job. He can’t stand Valentina, but over time he will learn to know her better and appreciate her. Nino Frassica plays the role of Massimo’s father, the backbone of the Mancuso family. he is an excellent cook who has a weakness for ‘nduja.
+Bebo Storti is Primo, the patriarch of the Sangiorgi company who has no respect for Valentina, he has always preferred her son Riccardo, who died four years earlier. The cast also includes Sebastiano Somma, in the role of Sangiorgi’s lawyerPrimo’s right-hand man and Valentina’s enemy.