Human Capital

The title of Paolo Virzi's drama refers to the value of a life as calculated by an insurance company on the basis of a person's age and earning potential—using the hit-and-run death of a waiter motorcycling home from work as an example. But it does so not by considering the victim's circumstances but rather by turning back the clock to follow the fortunes of two families involved in the accident as detailed from three perspectives, each in separate chapters. The first segment follows the desperate efforts of Dino (Fabrizio Bentivoglio)—whose business is deeply in debt—to make a quick profit by investing borrowed money in a hedge fund run by wealthy Giovanni Bernaschi (Fabrizio Gifuni); when the fund collapses, Dino is apparently ruined. The second section centers on Bernaschi's unhappy wife, Carla (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), whose sponsorship of a theatrical company (she's also having an affair with the director) is undercut by her husband's financial woes. The final chapter centers on Dino's daughter, Serena (Matilde Gioli), whose relationship with Bernaschi's wayward son, Massimiliano (Guglielmo Pinelli)—the man whose SUV hit the waiter—is complicated by her attraction to troubled artist Luca (Giovanni Anzaldo). Although the finale reveals the complicated circumstances behind the hit-and-run, the real emphasis here is on the cynical expendability of the less fortunate in the face of riches and power. Essentially a glossy soap opera about how the privileged always survive unscathed, Human Capital is an intriguing and well-acted film, although its complex structure seems designed to make a rather obvious story appear more sophisticated. Recommended, overall. (F. Swietek)