Having been made by Sky Italia, it's perhaps not unsurprising that the series would be made available to the broadcaster's UK base too. I was really into Italian football in the 90's and early 2000's and went across to see games in Milan, Turin and Rome and though I've lapsed as the rights have moved to a channel I don't have, I was still interested in this dramatisation about the last couple of years of Francesco's time at Roma.
Francesco Totti (Pietro Castellitto) is the King and Idol of the red half of the Eternal City. He has only ever played for Roma, since making his debut and a glittering career has seen him bring the scudetto home, participate in a successful World Cup winning team and bring a few other trophies to the fans that adore him. But he's now 39 and with his fitness a concern, Roma manager Luciano Spalleti (Gianmarco Tognazzi) is often choosing to leave him out of the team. His contract renewal is looming, which places his desire to play against his love for the club that has been his whole life.
It's not always easy to judge performances when I'm spending half my time reading subtitles, but I liked Pietro Castellitto in this. He doesn't physically look like Totti that much, but the show hides this by editing the footage from the match to keep away from Francesco's actual face. A few of the other likenesses are a little better, such as Marco Rossetti's Daniele De Rossi. The series spends more time with his family though, rather than his club, including his wife Ilary, played by the beautiful and excellent Greta Scarano. Initial concerns that she might be a stereotypical footballer's wife are lifted before the conclusion of the first episode. The show is less kind to Luciano Spalletti. Though he makes the decision he thinks is best, he's shown as feeling slighted after his initial departure from Roma and vindictive when given the chance to be so.
The show is a comedy drama, really. Either with asides about a prisoner choosing to stay inside longer, so he can meet the captain, a wedding pushed forward against the priests wishes so the groom can make the final game - or even by treating the very real Antonio Cassano as some sort of trickster sprite that Francesco uses to argue against. Much of it is set up for the finale, when the man himself replaces the actor for an emotional recreation of the last game, which is then intercut with sections from the goodbye speech.
If you don't care about football at all, I'd imagine it feels like a lot of emotion over something pretty trivial, in the grand scheme of things - but if you have a feeling for the story at all - and are prepared to accept that this is his version of events, rather than necessarily the whole truth, then there's much to admire about it.
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