Бенвенуто

This is a film unlikely to draw a young audience, but as Julie & Julia has proven, it can be quite profitable to pursue an older audience with the right kind of product. While Quills had an intensely salacious storyline, this is a more conventional outing and will have to attract its audience the old-fashioned way. Casting will be all-important, and a great deal of thought should be devoted to finding the right name to play Benvenuto. It’s a role that will appeal to any A-list talent, as the character is a multi-faceted scoundrel that carries the film and chews on the scenery while he’s doing it, so top draws like should be considered.

Most likely venue for production is going to be in Europe with the support of American film companies who have the financial power and relationships to draw a big name. A British actor who is a star in America such as Gerald Butler or Clive Owen might be a fit as he often works in Europe and has shown interest in riskier material, yet is well-known enough in the U.S. to pull in an audience looking for something different.

– Short Format – Critique/Script notes

Characterization

Characters are established quickly and economically. We know the basic set-up by Page 10 and understand whose story it is well before then. There is no antagonist, though Pier Luigi and Oracio come closest. It’s not really that kind of story, however, as it’s more of a character study of Benvenuto and several characters serve as interchangeable antagonists. It seems most people, in fact, have an axe to grind with Benvenuto and writer does a good job of juggling the multiple sources of enmity that work against him. As the writer recognizes the heart of the story is Benvenuto’s sincere desire to create a truly beautiful work of art, he focuses his story on Benvenuto’s struggles and we come to sympathize with him. It’s an effective and less obvious way to construct the story, and it lends an air of freshness to the outing.

Story

Story handles the basics well and the artistic thruline is an excellent motif that helps underscore the central character’s desire and growing frustration with the fact that no one will take him seriously as a sculptor. The conflict is set up at the end of Act 1, and we’re on Benvenuto’s side for the duration once we recognize that his ambition truly arises out of a hunger to create lasting beauty rather than pure self-aggrandizement.

Dialogue

Extremely strong. In setting this milieu, writer has done an exemplary job of rendering the period through speech and telling detail in a way that rings true and adds a dynamic element to the story’s theme. Characters emerge as real and fitting in with their time and place, and this goes a long way towards establishing the story’s all-important setting.

General

The story is unpredictable and engaging, the protagonist a wily, flawed, antagonistic but ultimately hugely-talented iconoclast, and the mystical aura that is gradually developed around Dorothea’s connection to him creates the critical focal point of Benvenuto’s journey. With proper casting, story will appeal strongly to an over-30 audience and may resonate particularly well with the American movie-going public, as Benvenuto’s unapologetic brashness has shades of the classic American archetype. Story wraps up nicely and revelation that Dorothea is possibly, and may have secretly been all along, Benvenuto’s guiding light is an intriguing development that gives the story a spiritual connotation at the same time as it possibly opens it up more to female moviegoers. Box office potential is very good.