Il sorpasso

Il Sorpasso follows Bruno, a loud and reckless charmer, who spontaneously pulls the reserved student Roberto into a freewheeling road trip through a sun-drenched, holiday-empty Rome and beyond. The film brilliantly contrasts their personalities while painting a vivid portrait of Italy's postwar economic boom and its hollow pleasures. Beneath its comedic surface lies a deeply melancholic meditation on freedom, emptiness, and mortality, culminating in one of Italian cinema's most devastating endings.

• Dino Risi directed the film in just a few weeks.
• Vittorio Gassman performed many of his own driving stunts.
• The film became a defining work of Italian Commedia all'italiana.
• Jean-Louis Trintignant almost declined the shy Roberto role.
• The tragic ending shocked audiences expecting a pure comedy.

• Bruno: 'W la vita!' (Long live life!)
• Bruno: 'You think too much. That's your problem.'
• Roberto: 'I have an exam to study for.'
• Bruno: 'Come on, it's Ferragosto! Nobody studies today!'
• Bruno: 'Life is short, you have to enjoy it.'