The truth? An atomic bomb, a weapon that can be kept as a deterrent, at most, in human relationships, but which should never, never explode, especially in the most delicate of human relational systems, that of the family. And, above all, it should not be given away to anyone who intends to use it in the most ruthless and destructive way to achieve their interests.

To illustrate this thesis, the film “Outside the truth” by Davide Minnella arrives at the cinema on Thursday 6 November. The protagonists of this black comedy are Claudio Amendola, who in the film is the head of the family Edoardo Moretti, Claudia Gerini who plays his wife Carolina, Claudia Pandolfi who plays the role of the cynical TV presenter in Marina Roch and the three children of Edoardo and Carolina: Flavio, Prisca and Nicole, played by Leo Gassman, Eleonora Gaggero and Elisa Luparelli. To complete the cat: Sara Drago, Lorenzo Richelmy and Massimo Wertmüller.

Out with the truth, the plot

Edoardo and Carolina have been husband and wife for many years and have what they believe to be a beautiful family without particular complexities. In fact, they also have three grown-up children: Flavio, Prisca and Nicole. Their life changes when they decide to participate in a very popular television program: a hybrid between a game show and a reality show of the worst kind, which offers a greedy prize pool amounting to the astronomical figure of 1 million euros. The Morettis will have to answer the “quiz” with personal questions, facing a sincerity test. To win they will always have to be frank and blurt out in front of the cameras those truths which, especially if hidden for a long time, become a real earthquake, even more so if the mechanism of the game and those who lead it have no scruples in taking everything to the extreme consequences in the name of the God of ratings. In the midst of this race for the audience, a family like many others finds itself stuck, forced to go through an increasingly fraught and unsettling path, with the protagonists faced with burning realities that have long been kept secret in a crescendo of revelations, disappointments, tensions, resentments, pain, until the final decision.

Outside the truth, a black comedy about trash TV and hypocrisies

“The truth sets us free” says the Gospel, but at what price? The rich prize pool of one million euros is a goal dreamed of by the average Italian family at the center of the story, but what the Morettis still don’t know when they accept the challenge, is that the bill they will pay, from question to question, will be much higher than the coveted final nest egg to be won.

The Morettis participate in what they believe to be a simple game with the legitimate hope of “turning around” and instead find themselves at the center of a mechanism led by the ruthless Marina Roch, a presenter in decline and in need of possibly stellar ratings to continue her career with a new shock show. To do this he ferociously exploits the five unfortunate participants, exposing unspeakable truths which are especially true for the members of the family, of whom the production has taken care to know every hidden secret.

And then, truths explode that were secrets before becoming secrets, and which as they are discovered, in an increasingly sensational escalation in the name of share, become painful wounds for family members.

“Outside the Truth” is a black comedy that points the finger, without hiding, at a certain type of television, the so-called “trash” of which we now have so many examples, with the character of the always excellent Claudia Pandolfi who appears ferocious to us, but familiar enough to not seem, in the end, as grotesque as it should if we were not now dangerously addicted to a certain type of programmes.

The “pornography of emotions” now rampant on a TV where there is a lack of ideas and often even funds to do something better, is the central theme of the film, but Minnella also asks himself, “what would we be willing to do for money?” in this wretched and empty era and also seems interested in making us reflect on the hypocrisies and the small and large secrets, or even compromises to which we must give in for the sake of a quiet life but also to protect others, to save ourselves from the disaster that would cause truths that are too painful or inconvenient, even for those closest to us.

Objectives achieved by a film between comedy and bitterness, with a cast that is always in focus.

Rating: 6.8

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