Indovina Chi Viene a Cena – Film 1967

Indovina Chi Viene a Cena – Film 1967

  • Categoria dell'articolo:Vintage Movies
  • Tempo di lettura:13 minuti di lettura

Indovina Chi Viene a Cena racconta una storia americana. Coraggiosissimo. Quando il film uscì i matrimoni interraziali erano illegali in 17 stati degli Stati Uniti D’America sino a pochi mesi prima dell’uscita del film.

La figlia di una famiglia benestante liberale torna a casa da una vacanza con una notizia bomba: si è innamorata, vuole sposarsi e partire per un lunghissimo viaggio di lavoro con il futuro marito, un genio della medicina che lavora per l’Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità.

I genitori sono felici sinché scoprono che il futuro marito, genio della medicina è afroamericano.

Il futuro marito, in separata sede, mette delle condizioni: se i genitori non daranno il loro consenso alle nozze, pur amando sinceramente la figlia, non la sposerà.

I genitori non ci possono pensare con calma perché l’aereo che li dovrebbe portare via decolla in serata.

La mamma approva, il padre è scettico. Teme che il pregiudizio e lo scandalo che susciteranno come coppia distruggerà il loro amore. Arrivano i genitori di lui. La mamma approva, il padre è altrettanto scettico. C’è perà una cena, un aereo e una decisione che aspettano al varco tutti i protagonisti e il tempo stringe.

La conclude il padre in un monologo di 8 minuti e 14 secondi, semplicemente splendido, che racchiude anche la dichiarazione d’amore che Tracy fa alla Hepburn. Toccante:

Now. The minute I walked into this house this afternoon… Miss Binks said to me, ”Well, all hell’s done broke loose now.”

I asked her, naturally enough, to what she referred… and she said, ”You’LL see.” And I did.

Then after some preliminary guessing games, at which l was never very good at… it was explained to me by my daughter… that she intended to get married. And that her intended was a young man whom I had never met…

who happened to be a Negro.

Well I think it’s fair to say that I responded to this news… in the same manner that any normal father would respond to it… unless, of course, his daughter happened to be a Negro too. ln a word, I was flabbergasted. And while I was still being flabbergasted… I was informed by my daughter — a very determined young woman… much like her mother — that the marriage was on… no matter what her mother and I might feel about it.

Then the next rather startling development occurred when you walked in…

and said that unless we — her mother and l — approved of the marriage, there would be no marriage.

(You didn’t! What a funny thing to do.)

Joey, This may be the Last chance I’ll ever have… to tell you to do anything. So I’m telling you shut up.

Now. It became clear that we had one single day to make up our minds…

as to how we felt about this whole situation.

So what happened? My wife, typically enough… decided to simply ignore…

every practical aspect of the situation… and was carried away in some kind of romantic haze… which made her, in my view… totally inaccessible to anything in the way of reason.

Now l have not as yet referred to His Reverence… who began by forcing his way into the situation… and then insulting my intelligence..,. by mouthing 3 hundred platitudes… and ending just a half hour ago by coming to my room… and challenging me to a wrestling match.

– What time is your plane?

(10:45)

Right. Now, Mr. Prentice… clearly a most reasonable man… says he has no wish to offend me… but wants to know if I’m some kind of a nut.

And Mrs. Prentice says… that like her husband, I’m a burnt-out old shell of a man… who cannot even remember what it’s like… to love a woman… the way her son loves my daughter. And strange as it seems… that’s the first statement made to me ail day… with which l am prepared to take issue. Because l think you’re wrong. You’re as wrong as you can be.

I admit that I hadn’t considered it, hadn’t even thought about it… but I know exactly how he feels about her. And there is nothing, absolute nothing… that your son feels for my daughter… that I didn’t feel for Christina.

Old? Yes.

Burnt out? Certainly.

But l can tell you the memories are still there — clear, intact, indestructible. And they’ll be there if l live to be 110.

Where John made his mistake, I think… was attaching so much importance to what her mother and I might think.

Because in the final analysis, it doesn’t matter a damn what we think. The only thing that matters is what they feel… and how much they feel…

for each other. And if it’s half… of what we felt… that’s everything.

As for you two and the problems you’re going to have… they seem almost unimaginable.

But you’ll have no problem with me.

And I think… that when Christina and I and your mother… have some time to work on him… you’ll have no problem with your father, John.

But you do know — I’m sure you know — what you’re up against. There’ll be a hundred million people right here in this country… who’ll be shocked and offended… and appalled at the two of you. And the two of you will just have to ride that out. Maybe every day for the rest of your lives.

You can try to ignore those people… or you can feel sorry for them and for their prejudices… and their bigotry and their blind hatreds and stupid fears. But where necessary… you’ll just have to cling tight to each other… and say screw all those people!

Anybody could make case and a hell of a good case against your getting married. The arguments are so obvious that nobody has to make them. But you’re two wonderful people… who happened to fall in love… and happen to have a pigmentation problem.

And l think that now… no matter what kind of a case some bastard could make… against your getting married… there would be only one thing worse. And that would be if… knowing what you two are…knowing what you two have… and knowing what you two feel… you didn’t get married.

Well, Tillie, when the hell are we gonna get some dinner?

Recensione

Oltre ad essere un film coraggioso, Indovina Chi Viene a Cena è davvero un bellissimo film: 3 premi Oscar recitano nei ruoli principali, la sceneggiatura è robusta, i temi attualissimi. Geniale il cambio di prospettiva quando arrivano a cena i genitori di lui. Bellissima l’interazione della domestica di famiglia che praticamente ha cresciuto la fidanzatina e il promesso sposo.

Splendido. Serio. Impegnato. Pluripremiato dalla critica e dal pubblico. Costato 4 miloni di dollari ne incassa 70 in tutto il mondo. E’ purtroppo l’ultimo film di Spencer Tracy, il nono girato con Katharine Hepburn.

Indovina Chi Viene a Cena vede anche il debutto di Katharine Houghton, nel ruolo della figlia innamorata. Katharine Houghton è la nipote della Hepburn e si racconta che la Hepburn fece molta pressione per averla nel casting.

Affermò in merito:

She would play Spencer’s and my daughter. I loved that. She’s beautiful and she definitely had a family resemblance. It was my idea.

Ed effettivamente assomglia a quella figlia o figlio che Tracy e Hepburn non ebbero mai.

Una nota triste: Indovina Chi Viene a Cena è l’ultimo film di Spencer Tracy. Morirà dopo pochissimo e la Hepburn ha dichiarato di non avere mai visto il film completato a causa dell’immenso dolore che le provoca il solo pensiero rivederlo nei suoi ultimi momenti.

Forse non l’ho ancora scritto, oppure i post sui film di Tracy sono ancora nella pipeline e non sono stati messi online: Spencer Tracy è un altro dei miei attori preferiti di sempre con James Cagney e Cary Grant.

C’è anche una canzone, la Gloria dell’Amore, da ascoltare e riascoltare.

Indovina Chi Viene a Cena fu un successo commerciale, anche in quei Stati dell’America dove il matrimonio interraziale era considerato illegale.

Mildred Jeter & Richard Loving

Uscito a Dicembre del 1967, Indovina Chi Viene a Cena segue di pochi mesi la sentenza della Corte Suprema degli Stati Uniti d’America nel Caso Loving contro Virginia (dal quale è stato tratto un altro bel film). In dettaglio la sentenza del 12 giugno 1967 dichiarò incostituzionale il Racial Integrity Act (1924), ribaltò la sentenza Pace v. Alabama (1883) e pose fine alle restrizioni legali relative ai matrimoni interrazziali negli Stati Uniti d’America.

There can be no question but that Virginia’s miscegenation statutes rest solely upon distinctions drawn according to race. The statutes proscribe generally accepted conduct if engaged in by members of different races. … There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the Equal Protection Clause.— Loving, 388 U.S. at 11–12

Da 1 a 10?

8 e mezzo

Guarda il trailer in lingua originale

Vedilo ora https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0PHYMYMXM7F8YZ8TYI2QCAKH3I/ref=dvm_src_ret_it_xx_s

Guarda il DVD

Ascolta la colonna sonora

Canta la canzone del film con noi:

THE GLORY OF LOVE

You’ve got to give a little, take a little 
And let your poor heart break a little 
That’s the story of, 
That’s the glory of love 

You’ve got to laugh a little, cry a little 
Until the clouds roll by a little 
That’s the story of, 
That’s the glory of love 

As long as there’s the two of us 
We’ve got the world and all its charms 
And when the world is through with us 
We’ve got each other’s arms 

You’ve got to win a little, lose a little 
Yes, and always have the blues a little 
That’s the story of, 
That’s the glory of love 

That’s the story of, 
That’s the glory of love

Leggi lo script.