Biopics are a minefield as we’re all well-aware. Some try to tell too much and end up skimming the surface. Others try to get too artsy and end up losing their subject. The best ones pick a story to tell and stick to it, and that’s what Ferrari does.
We don’t get a lot of backstory about Ferrari beyond what’s said in conversation, not even in flashback. Instead, the movie parks us in 1957, when Enzo Ferrari is not only dealing with the death of his son, Dino, from muscular dystrophy, but he’s in the process of breaking up with his wife, Laura, his mistress is pregnant with his child, his company’s in financial trouble, and one of his drivers, Cassellotti has been killed on the track.
Everything in the movie leads up to the fateful 1957 Mille Migria race, which took the lives of Spanish race car driver and sex symbol Alfonso de Portago, his navigator, and nine spectators, five of whom were children (See a photo of the crash site here). Ferrari was blamed for the accident and put on trial for eleven counts of manslaughter before finally being acquitted.
The film doesn’t get that far, though, stopping around the time of the accident’s immediate aftermath. It doesn’t try to compartmentalize the different aspects of Ferrari’s life at that time, either, opting for a more or less chronological format and a fairly rapid fire one at that. We go from the track to the board room to the press conference to Ferrari’s house in town to Ferrari’s house in the country where his mistress, Lena, lives and back again, and not necessarily in that order.
It’s slightly confusing from a narrative standpoint, but it’s also realistic because no one’s life stops so we can give full attention to our latest upheavals. Oftentimes it’s all mashed together and confusing. Mann skillfully juggles these plot arcs with exciting footage of the races and the sum total is about the merging of Enzo’s two lives.
The racing aspect of the film is pervasive. The priest during mass acknowledges how integrated racing and building racers are to the life of the town, and indeed, half the guys in the church are holding stop watches, which they click on as the day’s race starts and finishes. After the service ends they walk out of the church comparing notes and no one bats an eye at any of it. It’s all portrayed with tense pragmatism.
Adam Driver so totally inhabits the title character that it’s easy to forget him as Kylo Ren or any other role he’s had. Driver is a commanding presence, often towering over his costars and hiding his eyes behind dark sunglasses. His Ferrari is quietly understated although deadly in his intensity; the real Ferrari was known for being extremely autocratic and hard to get along with, but he also commanded respect.
Penelope Cruz as Laura is much more of an outward firebrand than Driver’s Ferrari, and the two of them spar constantly. Cruz shows Laura’s anger but also her blinding grief; she blamed Enzo for Dino’s death because she thought Dino knew how to save their son, and she saw their son’s death as a broken promise and personal affront. Now she wants to preserve their business that the two of them worked so hard to build. Laura and Enzo were always passionate people, but they went from passion for each other to passion for the business. It would be so easy for Laura to ruin Enzo, and she seems angry enough for that, but these matters are often not cut-and-dry.
The only part of the movie that didn’t quite ring true for me was Patrick Dempsey as Piero Taruffi, the man who won the 1957 Mille race. There’s nothing wrong with his acting; there’s just not much to the character because he’s there to serve a purpose. He shows up, asks Enzo why his racers don’t have ashtrays, and then wins the race as easily as if he’s out for a Sunday drive. Seriously. The dude’s face doesn’t even get dirty. All I could think about was Dr. McDreamy having a new gig.
Ferrari is an excellent movie that requires quite a bit of attention and thought. It has to be grabbed onto. It’s exciting and jumbled in the moment but illuminating afterwards.
Ferrari is currently in theaters. Rated R.
My grade: A-
Principal Cast: Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Derek Hill, Leonardo Calmi, Gabriel Leone, Michele Savola, Jacopo Bruno, Domenico Fortunato, Damiano Nevani, Giuseppi Bonafanti, Franca Abategiovanni, Eugenio Castellotti, Valentina Belle, Luciano Miele, Daniela Piperno
Directed by Michael Mann.
Written by Troy Kennedy Martin and Brock Yates.