Fading Gigolo

Synopsis: Fioravante (John Turturro) is losing his job at a book shop owned by his friend, Murray Schwartz (Woody Allen). Murray’s dermatologist, Dr Parker (Sharon Stone), has suggested she and her lesbian lover Selima (Sofia Vergara) would like to try a ménage a trois, and asks Murray if he knows any suitable men. Not one to miss a financial opportunity, Murray ends up pimping Fioravante to the women.  When he meets Avigal, (Vanessa Paradis) the widow of a rabbi he suggests that she also could do with a visit from Fioravante, much to the distress of aspiring suitor Dovi (Liev Schreiber). Murray and Fioravante soon discover that the new careers they have created are more challenging than they anticipated.

Tender, touching, at times hilarious, and ultimately totally entertaining, this audacious collaboration between Allen, the maestro of Jewish humour, and Turturro, long-known for playing an Italian everyman, is a winner.  Apparently Turturro told his barber of this idea for a story and that barber, while cutting Woody’s hair told Allen, and the whole ball got rolling. With Allen advising Turturro on the scripting, the final result has definite similarities to a Woody Allen film, but with the enhancing effect of Turturro’s brilliantly-conceived character, a man who truly understands what women want.

The film neatly avoids any of the Hollywood gigolo clichés as the character of Fioravante is a gentle, sensitive and intelligent man, who also has a real job in a flower shop. Rather than arousing lust (though he does that too), he taps into a woman’s desire for sensuality and romance and to be noticed and acknowledged for herself. Also avoided is the sometimes wearisome effect of Allen’s presence in a film. Although he gives us plenty of his recognisable mannerisms and “shtick”, he seldom grates, and his take on the Orthodox Jewish community of New York never disappoints. In contrast, Schreiber’s Dovi is a member of the local citizens’ Orthodox police, and whilst he could have been a parody, thanks to Schreiber’s restrained acting, his tenderness comes across.

The women are an interesting lot. Dr Parker, although married and in a sexy side relationship, still seems to crave something she’s never had - the full attention of a man who has an old-fashioned sensibility. It’s great to see Stone again, as always exuding mature sexiness and style. Avigal, delicately portrayed by the French actress, Paradis, is a woman fraught with contradictions. Although she has six kids she has never been kissed, and although she subscribes to the Orthodox Jewish dress code she still has enough feistiness to assert herself when pushed. Vergara’s Selima is perhaps not as fully rounded a character as the others.

There is a lovely inclusiveness to this film. Murray is married to an Afro-American woman and has a collection of half-Jewish, half black kids. He even manages to organise a baseball game between his kids and Avigal’s skull-cap brigade. Fioravante, whose girlfriend is Tunisian, with his easy-going Italian nature and skill on the dance floor is guaranteed to win any woman’s heart. But what unites all the characters ultimately is the desire to connect – whether by touch, by sex, by friendship or simply by sharing a meal and not being lonely.

The excellent evocative jazz soundtrack is also noteworthy but best of all I found Fading Gigolo a film to relish as a whole.  

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