Ferrari, 2023.
Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Giuseppe Festinese, Patrick Dempsey, Jack O’Connell, Sarah Gadon, Gabriel Leone, Erik Haugen, Michele Savoia, Valentina Bellè, Tommaso Basili, Andrea Dolente, Lino Musella, Brett Smrz, Derek Hill, Giuseppe Bonifati, Agnese Brighittini, Samuel Hubinette, Wyatt Carnel, Leonardo Caimi, Gianfilippo Grasso, and Alex Tonti.
SYNOPSIS:
Set in the summer of 1957, with Enzo Ferrari’s auto empire in crisis, the ex-racer turned entrepreneur pushes himself and his drivers to the edge as they launch into the Mille Miglia, a treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy.
Spoilers for real life (in the first 15 minutes of the film), but Enzo Ferrari (the eponymous car manufacturer and the racing team at the center of Michael Mann’s latest feature, played here by a silver-foxed Adam Driver reusing his Italian accent from Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci but dialed back and more convincing) of Ferrari lost a son named Dino to a fatal terminal illness.
Eventually, the grief comes to a head, arguing with his wife, Laura (Penélope Cruz), exclaiming that he learned and managed everything he possibly could about the illness in hopes that the boy would get better. He didn’t, and Laura still shoulders some blame toward Enzo for making a promise he couldn’t keep, but what stands out is that he speaks of this situation as if he were trying to repair a car engine, as if the dedication to his automobile empire took away some of his understanding regarding how the human body functions.
Roughly 10 years after their son’s death, the marriage between Enzo and Laura Ferrari is distant and fraught, with the former regularly having affairs with her knowledge. She doesn’t know that Enzo has a 10-year-old child with Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley), the woman he visits and sleeps with most nights. The boy, Piero (Giuseppe Festinese), is set to make his confirmation soon but is uncertain of his surname. It’s an issue that Enzo and Lina agreed to solve, yet haven’t gotten around to doing so with there being no time like the present.
The personal drama within Ferrari (scripted by Troy Kennedy Martin and based on the book Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races by Brock Yates) is far more compelling than the racing, which boils down to Enzo pushing a team hard to win the Mille Miglia, which might save his engineering factory. Making matters more complicated, the money from that factory is controlled by Laura. Essentially, Enzo needs to expand and increase car production output, and the quickest way to see those results is to have his cars impress during a prestigious race.
Since this is a character study about Enzo, there isn’t much time to get to know the racers, their motivations, and their personalities, meaning that outside some insanely violent crashes that see cars spinning and flying through the air upon thunderous impact (with incredible sound design), the sequences mostly fall flat and don’t give much reason to become fully immersed. However, the period details have been meticulously re-created with cars that look and sound the part.
Ferrari revs up in intensity whenever focused on Enzo, who has seemingly cut himself off from human emotion outside Lina and Piero and frequently visiting the cemetery to grieve and pay respects to Dino. He’s comfortable admitting that while being near a deadly crash site is unfortunate and depressing, he will quit Friday and be back coaching racers by Monday. When it comes to that tutoring, he is strict and demanding, often cutting off drivers and mechanics from their families, perhaps as a subconscious byproduct lamenting the loss of his first family. Death is a necessary risk to take if it possibly means winning.
Laura’s pent-up anger and journey to discovering what’s behind the affair is also engrossing, especially since Penélope Cruz plays here with a fiery attitude refusing to be walked all over. When it comes time for her and Enzo to let out all their grievances, frustration, and pain with one another, one braces themselves for the muscular acting exercise. Adam Driver superbly sells Enzo’s coldness without fully eliminating the humanity that is there for the loved ones he has lost and currently holds dear. It’s just a matter of what will wake him up to his unhealthy obsession with his empire and success in dealing with more pressing personal matters that should have been handled long ago. The answer is horrifying but tastefully staged. Ferrari is an engrossing character study that, unfortunately, slows down whenever focused on the racing.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
