was released in 1976, it was an indictment on how television had abandoned any notion of integrity in favor of panning to the masses. Thirty-seven years later, Matteo Garrone's Reality depicts a man panning to television. In Garrone's film, man's wants don't determine what's on TV, TV determines what man wants. The opening aerial shot slowly descends to the tune of Reality's whimsical score, transforming into a surreal tracking shot of a horse-drawn carriage in modern-day Italy as it enters through palatial gates to arrive at an obscene wedding, where, in the same continuous and unbroken take, the audience is given a tour through a bizarrely beautiful cotton-candy-colored dream of sights, sounds, and characters. This long-shot where the camera seemingly wanders through the party to establish the film's characters is reminiscent of scenes from I Am Love, The Leopard, and even Coppola's The Godfather. In the camera's initial descent, it sees cars on the road before it sees the carriage -establishing a modern setting that is confused by the inclusion of horses and Victorian attire, causing the audience to wonder on the film's title: What defines "reality"? Time? Attire? Signs of the familiar?
As the wedding guests dance the day away, anticipation begins to rise as the arrival of "Enzo" draws near. "Enzo" is the winner of the most recent Italian season of the television reality show "Big Brother" and for a price will make an appearance at one's wedding to shout his catch phrase and throw in a few hackneyed remarks. Luciano and his wife Maria gradually emerge as central among their colorful band of family members and relatives. Luciano is a realistic man, a provider for his family (though supplementing the income from his fish-stand by running an electronics scam), and very well liked. He's an affable man and it's a testament to Aniello Arena's tight-rope walk of a performance that he remains so up until his final disconnect from "reality". The class-clown of the family, he even dresses up in blue-haired drag for "Enzo's" entrance and proceeds to flirt with him for the family's entertainment. He'll do anything for a laugh and anything to keep his daughter's happy. His commitment to his little girls' smiles is evidenced when one begins to cry over not getting her picture taken with "Enzo" and he carries her to the adjacent wedding to take one and then eventually when he auditions for the new season of Italy's "Big Brother" at their vehement behest.
Stripping away the padding and the sequins of the dazzling extended opening wedding sequence, the day-to-day reality of Luciano's life at the fish stand
The reality show Luciano wants to get on is all about being watched and judged. Contestants live in a house littered with cameras mounted to every conceivable surface viewing their every move as audiences judge who they like. In his anxiety over whether he will be on the show, Luciano's perception of reality warps into distorted alignment with "Big Brother's" narrative: He begins to think studio executives (spies even!) are tracking his every move and assessing his eligibility for the show. From his town's visitors to the homeless and even to the extremity of a household insect, Luciano caters to absolutely everyone he meets thinking they are watching him just as audiences watch the contestants on the show. His attempts to get on TV though initially motivated by his daughter's smiles and the opportunity for lifelong financial security for his family turn him into a fame monster. Many fish given away at discount, furniture thrown out the window for the homeless, and meals bought for the needy later, Luciano's wife leaves him and takes their children with her. Alone in his home, Luciano doesn't relent. Originally, if Luciano were to get on "Big Brother", it would have been as the means to the end of his family's happiness. Getting on the show morphs from his means to his end itself though. It is said that "perception is reality", but if one's perception of how they are or that they are perceived is askew, what reality do they live in when no one is actually watching?
Reality begins by juxtaposing the foreign with the familiar, presenting things out of place with their surroundings and questioning their reality. Exposed, sitting ducks to the "real world" around them, the horses, wigs, carriages, and corsets of the opening parade through the modern world's accepted reality as the audience gawks in awe. By the film's end, desperately out of touch, Luciano breaks into the "Big Brother" mansion where the show is in progress. He is out of place, foreign to his surroundings, a sitting duck sure to be called out as not belonging. But as he walks through the mansion (exposed and visible), sits on a couch, and peers up through the sky-light audibly laughing, no one sees him; no one gawks in awe. And the audience comes full circle from Reality's start, again in incredulous amazement of what is on screen, this time at the lack of gawking awe in those Luciano sits in full view of. When an individual's perception and concrete reality part ways, does that individual cease to be real?
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