Starring: Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz and Shailene Woodley
Distributor: Roadshow Films
Runtime: 130 mins. Reviewed in Jan 2024
Reviewer: Peter W Sheehan
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The American film is based on the personal and professional life of Enzo Ferrari during the summer of 1957. It features his attempts to keep the name of Ferrari competitively and commercially viable.
This sports drama film was written by Troy Kennedy Martin, and was based on the 1991 biography, Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine by motorsport journalist, Brock Yates. It was selected to complete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in 2023, which was won by Poor Things (2023). The film is a bio-optic of automotive mogul, Enzo Ferrari, who helped to revolutionise Formula One racing. The film was mostly shot in Brescia, Italy, where the famed Mille Miglia race was regularly held.
Struggling with the death of his son, Dino, from muscular dystrophy in 1957, and facing bankruptcy in a deteriorating marriage to his wife and business partner, Laura (Cruz), Enzo Ferrari (Driver) – who established the Ferrari brand – pushes his drivers to the limit in his bid to win the Mille Miglia. He knows that whoever wins that event can name their price.
Driver plays the deeply absorbed character of Enzo Ferrari with intensity. Ferrari places his life and reputation on the line as he wages everything to make Ferrari victorious in the Mille Miglia, which is a 1500km treacherous, endurance race across Italy. Driver presents a complex, moody portrait of a racing car legend. Many of the members of the Ferrari team write notes to their partners, in case they don’t survive the race; they face the possibility of ending their lives in a race where travelling the roads of Italy at breakneck speed is enormously risky. Enzo must win the Mille Miglia to give his company a chance of surviving commercially. As he observes: ‘You win on Sunday (and) you sell on Monday’ – Ferrari has to sell more cars.
The film has excellent scripting, and both personal and professional dialogue are charged with tension. It explores the dark side of Enzo Ferrari, as Ferrari sacrifices everything to win the Miglia. He almost re-establishes his marriage to Laura, but goes back to his mistress, Lina Lardi (Woodley), in his search for comfort and affection, and Lina has given him another son.
Production design, photography, and choreographed action are first rate, and the film’s vehicle and stunt teams are excellent. The film accentuates period detail. A near-to-final scene – where Enzo has to argue he did not cause a fatal car crash – is captured in horrifying detail: the tragic effects of a racing car ploughing into a watching, unsuspecting crowd makes for grim cinema.
Mann directs the racing cars well. The film captures the personal and professional struggles of its lead characters, and the film aptly maintains a provocative, contemplative touch.
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