"Zamora's themes are inadequacy, which in my opinion concerns us all, and certainly the adolescence of the undersigned, and the relationship between men and women well represented in this story by the characters played by Alberto Paradossi and Marta Gastini. The women of Sixties did not take the initiative, it was always the man who had to take the first step, but they were certainly more mature. A maturity that is even more valid today: a no said by a woman is often interpreted by men as a yes disguised as a no, something that often degenerates into violence."
So today in Rome Neri Marcorè talks about Zamora, his directorial debut in theaters from 4 April with 01 and based on the book of the same name by Roberto Perrone (Garzanti).
On stage are the misadventures, in the fabulous and unrepeatable Sixties, of thirty-year-old Walter Vismara (Alberto Paradossi), a professional accountant, but even more so in his life, someone who works as an accountant in a small factory in Vigevano.
"This film reflects me in every way, for better or for worse - says Marcorè -. There's a lot of my stuff in it. It's also a story I knew. There had already been a project in which they talked about me as hero".
Returning to Zamora, who has already passed the Bif&st 2024, we see that Walter finds himself at a certain point catapulted into a company in modern Milan and at the service of a modern and bizarre entrepreneur, the cavalier Tosetto (Giovanni Storti).
Walter adapts immediately to the new job, but has to deal with his boss who loves football and fancifully forces all his employees into weekly 'bachelor vs. married' challenges.
Walter, who doesn't like football, invents himself as a goalkeeper, but is totally clumsy and becomes the object of teasing from his colleagues;
among these, engineer Gusperti ironically renames him 'Zamora', the great Spanish goalkeeper of the 1930s.
Walter endures everything, but when he falls in love with his secretary, Ada (Marta Gastini), he seeks redemption.
He gets lessons from an ex-goalkeeper (Neri Marcoré), who has now fallen into disgrace, to become the champion he never was.
"This story reflects me - reiterates Marcorè - because it contains elements of my adolescence, that is, my shyness, my insecurity, my embarrassments. I found in Perrone's novel all the elements to talk about myself and at the same time about contemporaneity. I am referring especially to the relationship between Walter and his secretary which doesn't go as the accountant would like, but this is only his fault. She gives him a lesson by making him understand that he must mature in his relationship with women".
Is there something autobiographical about the role of goalkeeper too?
"No, I have never played as a goalkeeper, but in my opinion it is the most fascinating role because, as they say, you have to be born a goalkeeper. In this role you have an enormous responsibility, you can easily expose yourself to some fools.
The football in this film, I want to say, is only the pretext in which this story is triggered.
It is the masculine of this story that Walter rejects as he rejects his father.
This is also why he doesn't like football." Nostalgic for the Sixties? "They were different times, but even today there are wonderful things that weren't there then.
Of course there is nostalgia for an era in which there was innocence, but there is also because we were younger then." Directorial references? "I definitely feel the imprinting of Pupi Avati to whom I owe a lot, but there are many others". Is directing an experience worth repeating? "For now I'm enjoying the present, but I think there will be a second time."
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