Ftranspositions of Eduardo De Filippo’s comedies for generalist TV are popular. Up tonight Rai 1 at 9.30pm, after the successes of Christmas at the Cupiello house, I’m not paying you, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Filumena Marturano And Naples Millionaire!it’s up to These ghosts by Alessandro Gassmann, with Massimiliano Gallo (Vincenzo Malinconico 2)And Anna Foglietta, who tries her hand at the Neapolitan dialect for the first time.
The challenge is also demanding for Gassmann: in fact, for the first time he is tackling the text of a giant like Eduardo and he puts himself to the test, as his father Vittorio did in 1967, when he played the character of Pasquale Lojacono (at his side Sophia Loren). «This is one of the most loved and well-known Edwardian comedies, ever poised between comedy and drama, realism and dreamlike passageslaughter and tears”, explained the director and actor.
These ghosts 2024: the plot
An immense 18-room apartment in Palazzo Elefante, in Naples, has been rented for 20 months, but no one wants to enter because it seems to be haunted by ghosts. Rumor or reality? Eduardo plays on this double possibility throughout the play. Pasquale Lojacono (Massimiliano Gallo), a theater manager on the brink of ruin, he decides to accept the landlord’s offer and stay in the apartment for free to try to discover the truth about the presence of spirits.
Together with his wife Maria (Anna Foglietta), a troubled soul, Pasquale moves into the new apartmentguarded by Raffaele (Maurizio Casagrande) and his sister Carmela (Gea Martire), the only witness to sightings of otherworldly presents. Are these ghosts really there or not? The caretaker says yes: «The previous tenants lasted a maximum of 4-5 days”he tells Lojacono. Raffaele was a direct witness to disappearances: also Pasquale and Maria never find Carolina the hen again. Is it the work of ghosts or of those who peddle their stories?
At a certain point Alfredo (Alessio Lapice) appears in the house, Maria’s lover, who moves into a secret room. Lojacono considers him a ghost and continues to accept the money that the man leaves in the house as a dowry to leave his wife. Pasquale furnishes 12 rooms with that money and opens a guesthouse. Maria suffers from the attitude of her husband who prefers to live comfortably and with his wife’s lover rather than address the situation. Maria and Pasquale must confront each other to resolve their relationship. As Eduardo says: «Ghosts don’t exist. We are the ghosts».
The films of 1954, 1962 by Eduardo and 1967 with Vittorio Gassman and Sophia Loren
These ghosts by Alessandro Gassmann is based on the play by Eduardo De Filippo from 1945. It is one of the most popular comedies by the Neapolitan playwright. There are various versions of the text. De Filippo directed the film of the same name in 1954 with Renato Rachelwhile in 1962 he created a television version for Rai, as happened with many of his comedies (available on Rai Play).
In 1967 Renato Castellani made a film based on These ghosts: with Vittorio Gassman as Lojacono, and Sophia Loren as his wife Maria. More than 40 years later, the son of art Alessandro Gassmann faces the same challenge, trying to remain as close as possible to the original text. «I saw the films based on De Filippo’s work – says the director – I tried to make a more visually contemporary film, a sort of ghost movie which however preserved Eduardo’s spirit and the themes covered.”
Anna Foglietta in “These Ghosts”. (Courtesy press office)
«These ghosts plays, as Eduardo often does, on human duplicity – continues Gassmann – on solitudes, always remaining in the balance between comedy and drama; it always sails between realism and dreamlike passages, between laughter and tears. De Filippo is light and profound. This is the film with which I learned the most, both as a director and as an actor».
The cast of These ghosts 2024
For Massimiliano Gallo, fresh from the success of Vincenzo Malinconico 2, interprets another text by Eduardo De Filippo for TV. We had already seen the Neapolitan actor in Filumena Marturano in 2022 and on Naples millionaire in 2023, alongside Vanessa Scalera. This time he puts himself in Lojacono’s shoes, «a fragile man who is afraid; who prefers to think about ghosts rather than hear the truth – says Gallo – there is a lot left unsaid between these characters.”
Massimiliano Gallo (Courtesy press office)
Anna Foglietta, almost perfect in the role of Mariafor the first time he tries his hand at the Neapolitan dialect. «Maria is a woman pressed by her miserable life and her lover – says the actress – – it is braver than the Edwardian text. He is a person who authorizes himself to suffer and who doubts whether he deserves a better life. Maria takes a small step forward which for her however represents the elaboration of an entire life.”
Alessio Lapice, who has already worked together with Massimiliano Gallo in the series Imma Tataranniplays Maria’s lover, Alfredo, while Maurizio Casagrande is Raffaele, the doorman of Palazzo Elefante«an intrusive character that Eduardo defines as a “black soul”. A funny man who does vile things». This is how the Neapolitan actor describes him.
iO Donna © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED