Ferrari (2024 in Spain)

The Plot of Ferrari: It is 1957. Enzo Ferrari builds cars for the rich and famous but the company is in trouble. He has a mistress who has his son, and a wife who is permanently at odds with him, particularly after the death of their son due to muscular dystrophy. On the track he has a major rival Maserati a fellow constructor of racing cars and road cars for the super rich. In order to improve his sales he gets a number of drivers together to participate in the Mille Miglia, providing them with a few varieties of his brand. Meanwhile he puts feelers out in order to find a partner in the car industry, but his major problem is that his wife, Laura owns 50% of the company and is demanding $500,000 for her power of attorney. If she gets the money the company will be bankrupted, and out on the road there is tragedy.

Content: There is sex, but it was fully clothed and looked uncomfortable. Enzo stalks about laying down the law in the factory, arguing with his wife and having peace and quiet in the villa he has provided for his mistress.  Now and again the mistress asks him to give their son his name. Laura his wife often goes to the bank. There are a number of visits to a circuit where the Ferraris compete with the Maseratis for the best time. In those days all Italian F1 cars were red.  Once we get to the Mill Miglia, which is a race over 1000 miles on public roads in Italy the Ferraris and the Maseratis are seen dashing along. There are a couple of spectacular crashes where people die.

A View: So far this film has not been liked much, and has not made money. I was put off right away because everyone was talking English with Italian accents. The plus for the film makers was that they could employ Italians and the English sounded English, and I sort of got used to it. I was unmoved by Ferrari’s love life and once the drivers had got their helmets and goggles on could not tell one from another. I’m usually fired up by sports racing cars, but the 1950s are not my favourite decade, and unfortunately I had difficulty telling the Ferraris from the Maseratis, and all the cars sounded exactly the same. I’m sure that could not have been right. And the crashes? The cars flew through the air – surely not. So particularly not a watch if you are a petrolhead.

Fun Fact: Stirling Moss, who was driving a Maserati, was played in the film by Ben Collins, moderately famous as being the second “Stig” the Top Gear test driver.