Monster (film, 1994)

Loris is engaged in mannequins in a department store. He teaches Chinese , hoping that in this way he will be able to achieve the position of assistant manager . Loris lives in an apartment, for the rent of which he does not pay for several months, in addition, he owes several more people in the city.

The events of the film begin at the party. Loris is trying to seduce a woman whom he mistook for a nymphomaniac . She runs away in horror from him, but later she meets him in the parking lot, where he put mannequins in a truck and took out a chainsaw, as it interfered with during loading. She thought that he wants to kill her, and again runs away from him and comes to the police, where he says that this is the maniac who killed and dismembered 18 women over the past 12 years (the last crime happened the other day). The lady makes up his image, which falls to the inspector and psychiatrist. They want to arrest him immediately, but, alas, there is very little evidence of his guilt. And then they decided to organize surveillance of him.

At this time, the manager of the house, who rents the apartment to Loris’s apartment, leads a possible guest to Loris’s place, which he is going to throw into the street in the near future. With the help of his cunning, Loris manages to force his opponent to refuse to rent an apartment and leave. When the manager leaves, the neighboring children throw a dead cat at him. He takes this cat and throws it in the trash on the street, after which he walks past the watch shop, where the seller recognizes him and runs after him (at the time, Loris did not pay for the clock), but he manages to escape, hiding under the balcony, where he was fortunate enough to peek a lady under a skirt. He also committed theft in a supermarket (paralyzing the security system), dined for free in a cafe and stole a newspaper.

Later, the police who showed the women who worked there were shown videos resulting from surveillance of Loris. In addition to the cat and chase episodes, thanks to which the investigators were able to characterize him as a prudent and soulless killer and murderer, special emphasis was placed on the episode in the cafe, where it was shown how, on the way out, Loris supposedly masturbated before a woman who bent to pick up fallen things (although in fact, he was trying to put out a cigarette butt that accidentally fell into his pants). Many women became ill from this sight, after which they all, except one, left (the latter simply dozed off and did not have time to leave). In the end, the remaining policeman, Jessica Rozzetti, was sent on a mission as bait to catch him in the act.

Jessica comes to the apartment to Loris as one of the possible buyers of the apartment. She promised to think and wanted to leave, but she caught up with her and invited her to secretly rent half of the apartment from him. She populated him, which she reports to her superiors. The investigator announces the beginning of the operation “Not a moment of peace”, the essence of which is that, with the help of the vulgar behavior of Jessica, make Loris attack her and rape her. The operation fails because it does not respond to Rosetti's tricks, following a friend’s advice to think of something else at these moments. Jessica understands that something is wrong here, and reports this to the psychiatrist, but he does not take her words into account and decides to meet this “monster” under the guise of a tailor in his house. As a result, the doctor’s wife, who also came to the meeting, flees in hysteria from there, at the same time, the doctor took all the samples he needed and the results of the study, according to which he was a maniac.

The next day, Loris went to take an exam in Chinese. Since he did not learn this language well and before that answered on cheat sheets, he did not pass the exam. At the exit, he was met by Jessica and his Chinese teacher, to whom he returned the talisman, which, he claimed, brings good luck. After that, at home, a psychiatrist comes to Jessica and brings the Little Red Riding Hood costume (he found in the closet a statue of the gnome from the cartoon “ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ” (which Loris most likely stole), she dresses him, but she understands that it’s stupid and She left her voice recorder, and he left a message on it that the rental agreement was canceled, but he hears Jessica's declaration of love for him.

At the police office, she is criticized for refusing to participate in the operation, and then they find out that another murder of a woman was committed. Everyone rushes to look for Loris. When he learns that they are looking for him, he runs away from them and hides in his Chinese teacher’s house. At the same time, Jessica arrives at the crime scene and finds the very talisman that the language teacher gave Loris during the exam, and she realizes that he is this monster. Policemen come to his apartment and arrest him, and all charges are dropped from Loris. At the end of the film, he and Jessica kiss and go into the distance against the sunset.

Film critics in the US are dismissive of the film. According to Rotten Tomatoes , the film has a rating of 33%. James Brandage on filmcritic.com writes that “this is a childish film, fun, and you can enjoy this film without knowing a word in Italian ... well, maybe not the third part, but still you won’t have to be too smart brains. " ^[one]

Chris Hicks from Deseret News has a slightly different opinion about the film: “after an hour of watching Benigny , his film is boring, and yet you have to endure the same amount. I am surprised how this movie could become the highest grossing film in the history of Italy . " ^[2]

Feminists claim that the woman’s role in the film is humiliated The role of Jessica, a high professional, in the film comes down to the role of sexual bait.

• Roberto Benigni - Loris
• Nicoletta Braschi - Jessica Rozzetti
• Michelle Blanc - Paride Taccone, Psychiatrist
• Dominic Lavanan - Yolanda Taccone
• Jean-Claude Brialy - Manager
• Massimo Girotti

• “Monster” on the Internet Movie Database