Nanni Moretti’s latest film is a act of political agitation. Not so much aggression, much more an question to the political place of those with money and influence, within the post Trump world. Based on Israeli novelist Eshkol Nevo well received might I add, Tel Aviv based book of the same name, THREE FLOORS (TRES PIANI). That was a skilled social commentary that ventured into middle class Israeli life. Moretti flips it to Rome and like a paratrooper regiment, he lands with a clump. Rome is a place of wealth and power, certainly we know that. Here it is also a place of hard, impersonal directness. Deeper inside that thought, is a theory of how a place can reflect deep social imbalances in actions.
When a deadly incident, involving a car crashing into a building and running over a young woman killing her happens, three families are literally smashed together. The first family, that of the witness Monica (Alba Rohrwacher). 
She is pregnant and on her way to hospital. Her role is the most complex of all. Having a husband absent and a dependence on independence, her agency is never compromised. Nor is Rohrwacher skill as an actress dampened. She ascends the stairs of the piece without a misstep. The second family, headed by Vittorio (Nanni Moretti) is the father of the drunk driving son Andrea (Alessandro Sperduti). One is stoic, drying out the emotive edge with his manly stodge of strength and assertive will. The other is a spoiled brat who needs to get over himself. The thing about Moretti is that he has a fixation with male connection and fatherly responsibility. I understand and respect it but in this dynamic, his presence feels leaden. His hang dog face and defeated gait, loses his pathos. The third family, that of Lucio (Riccardo Scamarcio) and Sara (Elena Lietti). Their son stumbled into well put it simply, the intrusion and invasion of their home and personal space. It becomes devastated. A car crashing through your living room will do that.
I should be more explorative of all three (especially family three) but the issue is, Moretti wants to make his point. His particular cultural, political and aesthetic point and his characters become superfluous to all these. I don’t think it is fair to question the oeuvre of the man but Is Moretti the person to both discuss class and societal harm? Can he readily be able to mount an assault on the middling middle? To engage with those on the edges? IF this is anything to go by, No.
Nanni Moretti’s Three Floors (out in UK and Irish cinemas from 18 March).
