The film suffers from a common trope of movies where an actor is placed alongside a comedian: the former is put on a pedestal, like a godlike perfect being, and the latter is just a comic relief. The two worlds of Luigi Pirandello and the morticians are so strongly divided in tone that I imagine they shot all the expensive scenes with Toni Servillo in a couple of days, then edited them in the movie in an attempt to pretend all the characters lived in the same world.
But, after a first act of more or less funny jokes, the movie finally explodes in a second act that surprised me in many ways, showing that the until that point pointless series of events is actually aiming somewhere. The movie, in the end, shows a genuine love for theater and Pirandello's work, and even if it is an imperfect movie it perfectly serves as a reminder of how great his work is. I left the theater happy.
But, after a first act of more or less funny jokes, the movie finally explodes in a second act that surprised me in many ways, showing that the until that point pointless series of events is actually aiming somewhere. The movie, in the end, shows a genuine love for theater and Pirandello's work, and even if it is an imperfect movie it perfectly serves as a reminder of how great his work is. I left the theater happy.