# Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man
**Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man** (Italian: *La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo*) is a 1981 Italian drama film written and directed by [Bernardo Bertolucci](https://www.edgepedia.org/bernardo-bertolucci), in which a self-made Parma cheese manufacturer must decide whether to pay a ransom for his kidnapped son, a choice that threatens both his family and his factory.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/414897/) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tragedy_of_a_ridiculous_man) It competed at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival, where Ugo Tognazzi won the Award for Best Actor, and opened in Italian theaters on 1 October 1981.[3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/la-tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridiculo/) • [4](https://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/cinema-serie-tv/cards/tragedia-un-uomo-ridicolo-usciva-40-anni-fa-film-chiave-bertolucci-che-divise-critica/film-difficile-trovare_principale.shtml)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | *La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo*; released in English as *The Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man*[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/414897/) |
| Director and writer | Bernardo Bertolucci, who wrote both the story and the screenplay[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/414897/) |
| Leading cast | Ugo Tognazzi (Primo Spaggiari), Anouk Aimée (Barbara), Laura Morante (Laura), Victor Cavallo (Adolfo), Vittorio Caprioli, Renato Salvatori, Olimpia Carlisi, and Ricky Tognazzi (Giovanni)[5](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/risultati/scheda?codice=AG4711) |
| Principal crew | Cinematography Carlo Di Palma; music Ennio Morricone; editing Gabriella Cristiani; production Giovanni Bertolucci for Fiction Cinematografica[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/414897/) |
| Cannes 1981 | In competition; Award for Best Actor to Ugo Tognazzi[3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/la-tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridiculo/) |
| Italian release | 1 October 1981, nearly five months after the Cannes screening[4](https://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/cinema-serie-tv/cards/tragedia-un-uomo-ridicolo-usciva-40-anni-fa-film-chiave-bertolucci-che-divise-critica/film-difficile-trovare_principale.shtml) |
| Ransom in the plot | One billion lire, demanded by the terrorist kidnappers[6](https://www.italyformovies.it/film-serie-tv-games/detail/6940/la-tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridicolo) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Primo Spaggiari, a small industrialist of peasant origin in the Po valley near Parma, has built a large cheese factory from nothing; the Cannes synopsis describes him watching with wonder as milk becomes cheese and cheese becomes money.[3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/la-tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridiculo/) On the day of his son Giovanni's twentieth birthday, he witnesses the young man's kidnapping by a terrorist group, which then demands a ransom of one billion lire, a sum large enough to risk bankrupting the business.[5](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/risultati/scheda?codice=AG4711) • [6](https://www.italyformovies.it/film-serie-tv-games/detail/6940/la-tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridicolo)
Primo, helped by Laura, his son's girlfriend, borrows money and turns to usurers to raise the sum. He then learns from Laura and from Adolfo, a worker-priest who acts as an intermediary, that Giovanni has been killed. Unable to tell his French wife Barbara, who is willing to sell everything to free their son, Primo continues collecting money while devising a fraudulent scheme: he pretends to have paid the ransom and recycles the sum into his failing company instead.[5](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/risultati/scheda?codice=AG4711) • [7](https://www.cineturismo.cinetecadibologna.it/film/tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridicolo)
Meanwhile an anti-terrorism investigation suspects that Giovanni, a sympathizer of radical groups, may have been a accomplice of his own kidnappers in order to strike his boss father.[8](https://www.fondazionecsc.it/evento/cineteca-classic-3/) At the end Giovanni reappears alive, but the film leaves open disturbing questions about who was responsible and what really happened.[5](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/risultati/scheda?codice=AG4711) Reviewers have repeatedly noted this ambiguity; one audience summary on Rotten Tomatoes observes that at the end "you still do not know who was responsible."[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tragedy_of_a_ridiculous_man)
## Production
Bertolucci shot the film in September and October 1980 at the Latteria sociale di Piadena in Cremona province, at another caseificio, in a villa at Langhirano used as the Spaggiari house, at Moletolo, at the Castello di Torrechiara, and across Parma itself, including Piazza Duomo, vicolo del Vescovado, borgo delle Colonne, and via Farini, with the bank office and Romola's house built in a Rome studio.[9](https://www.fondazionecsc.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/filmografia2_ok.pdf)
According to IMDb trivia, Vittorio Storaro, Bertolucci's longtime cinematographer, was originally set to photograph the film, but Bertolucci lost him to [Francis Ford Coppola](https://www.edgepedia.org/francis-ford-coppola)'s *One from the Heart* (1981); Carlo Di Palma took the assignment instead.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084813/) The score is by [Ennio Morricone](https://www.edgepedia.org/ennio-morricone), a frequent Bertolucci collaborator, alongside recorded songs including [Etta James](https://www.edgepedia.org/etta-james) and Chuck Berry's "Rock 'n' Roll Is Good for the Soul," Offenbach's Barcarolle from *Les contes d'Hoffmann*, and "Nel blu dipinto di blu."[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/414897/) • [9](https://www.fondazionecsc.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/filmografia2_ok.pdf)
The version screened at Cannes in May 1981 ran about 120 minutes and had no voice-over narration; after the festival Bertolucci added an off-screen voice of the protagonist, at times chronicle-like, self-ironic, or poetic, and trimmed several sequences.[11](https://www.comingsoon.it/film/la-tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridicolo/13923/scheda/) [The Italian](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-italian) censorship visa is dated 25 May 1981, and the film was produced by Giovanni Bertolucci for Fiction Cinematografica with distribution by P.I.C.[5](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/risultati/scheda?codice=AG4711) • [9](https://www.fondazionecsc.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/filmografia2_ok.pdf) In the United States it was released by Warner Bros. on 12 February 1982, with The Ladd Company as copyright claimant.[12](https://www.copyrightencyclopedia.com/la-tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridicolo-%3D-the-tragedy-of-a/)
## Reception
The film divided critics. The *Italian Cinema Dictionary* entry on Bertolucci calls it a courageous attempt to explore political terrorism, which was still rife in Italy at the time, and notes that it was generally dismissed.[13](https://e-edu.nbu.bg/pluginfile.php/1390668/mod_resource/content/1/Italian_Cinema_Dictionary.pdf) Corriere della Sera, marking the fortieth anniversary of the Italian release, described it as a key Bertolucci film that split the critics.[4](https://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/cinema-serie-tv/cards/tragedia-un-uomo-ridicolo-usciva-40-anni-fa-film-chiave-bertolucci-che-divise-critica/film-difficile-trovare_principale.shtml) American reviews were mixed: Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it Bertolucci's most rewarding, most invigorating film since *Last Tango in Paris*, while the Washington Post found the plot muddled and the ending deliberately unresolved.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tragedy_of_a_ridiculous_man) • [14](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/03/12/a-ridiculous-man-yes/f7f61438-1eb6-454c-9bb1-890292e5160b/) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 67% Tomatometer from 9 reviews and a 65% audience score.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tragedy_of_a_ridiculous_man)
Tognazzi's performance is the element most consistently praised. Besides the Cannes Best Actor award he received the 1982 Nastro d'Argento for best leading actor, and the [Museum of Modern Art](https://www.edgepedia.org/museum-of-modern-art), introducing a 2018 retrospective of the actor, wrote that he gives "the performance of his career" as the impotent, ridiculous man of Bertolucci's late-period film.[3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/la-tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridiculo/) • [11](https://www.comingsoon.it/film/la-tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridicolo/13923/scheda/) • [15](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/4944) The film also marked an early prominent role for Laura Morante.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tragedy_of_a_ridiculous_man)
## Place in Bertolucci's career
The film followed the monumental epic *1900* (1976) and *La Luna* (1979), and several critics read it as a return to the sparser style of Bertolucci's earlier *[The Spider's Stratagem](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-spiders-stratagem)*, with slow, detailed storytelling and autumnal landscapes around Parma.[16](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/beauty-and-the-eye-of-the-beholder-1309209.html) • [17](https://www.furiouscinema.com/obscure-picks-tragedy-of-a-ridiculous-man-1981/) Bertolucci himself, in remarks quoted by the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, said that after the dance-hall sequence, where the emotion of Giovanni's resurrection was so strong, he felt there was no need to continue further.[8](https://www.fondazionecsc.it/evento/cineteca-classic-3/) His next project moved to a far larger production scale: *The Last Emperor* (1987), the first film of what one festival catalog calls his "trilogy of elsewhere."[18](https://www.datocms-assets.com/55129/1709820218-futpres_futuro-presente_libretto_2007.pdf)
## References
1. [La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/414897/)
2. [Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tragedy_of_a_ridiculous_man)
3. [LA TRAGEDIA DI UN UOMO RIDICOLO, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/la-tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridiculo/)
4. [«La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo» usciva 40 anni fa, Corriere della Sera](https://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/cinema-serie-tv/cards/tragedia-un-uomo-ridicolo-usciva-40-anni-fa-film-chiave-bertolucci-che-divise-critica/film-difficile-trovare_principale.shtml)
5. [La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo, Archivio del Cinema Italiano](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/risultati/scheda?codice=AG4711)
6. [La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo, Italy for Movies](https://www.italyformovies.it/film-serie-tv-games/detail/6940/la-tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridicolo)
7. [Tragedia di un uomo ridicolo, Cineturismo, Cineteca di Bologna](https://www.cineturismo.cinetecadibologna.it/film/tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridicolo)
8. [Cineteca Classic, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia](https://www.fondazionecsc.it/evento/cineteca-classic-3/)
9. [Filmografia Bertolucci, Fondazione CSC](https://www.fondazionecsc.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/filmografia2_ok.pdf)
10. [Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084813/)
11. [La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo, Comingsoon.it](https://www.comingsoon.it/film/la-tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridicolo/13923/scheda/)
12. [La Tragedia di un uomo ridicolo copyright registration, Copyright Encyclopedia](https://www.copyrightencyclopedia.com/la-tragedia-di-un-uomo-ridicolo-%3D-the-tragedy-of-a/)
13. [Bertolucci, Bernardo, Italian Cinema Dictionary](https://e-edu.nbu.bg/pluginfile.php/1390668/mod_resource/content/1/Italian_Cinema_Dictionary.pdf)
14. ['A Ridiculous Man': Yes, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/03/12/a-ridiculous-man-yes/f7f61438-1eb6-454c-9bb1-890292e5160b/)
15. [La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo, MoMA](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/4944)
16. [Beauty and the Eye of the Beholder, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/beauty-and-the-eye-of-the-beholder-1309209.html)
17. [Obscure Picks: Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981), Furious Cinema](https://www.furiouscinema.com/obscure-picks-tragedy-of-a-ridiculous-man-1981/)
18. [Futuro Presente catalog, Festival dei Popoli](https://www.datocms-assets.com/55129/1709820218-futpres_futuro-presente_libretto_2007.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1980s › Comedy-dramas of the 1980s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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