From "kiss me stupid" onwards ,all Billy Wilder's movies were commercial failures,which leads cinebuffs to overlook them.This final phase of his career showed as much wit,as much humor,as much genius as in the former greater glories.
The follow-up to "the private life of Sherlock Holmes ",the best Wilder of this late period (the prologue in the plane is a nod to the scene with the gay dancers in Sherlock),"Avanti " is a delightful,wonderful first-rate comedy ,with all that we cruelly lack in today's ponderous and vulgar so-called funny movies.The movie was dismissed by some "serious" critics for the caricature of Italy and Italians.Of course it is!Wilder's Italy exists no more than the "Irma la Douce" France ...or the "some like it hot" America.All his comedies are fables in which Wilder shows the man as he is and not as he should be!The place where he moves does not matter.
Wilder/Diamond's dialogue is as witty as funny as ever.Puns,misunderstandings,stabs at "last tango in Paris" "love story" ,maffia movies,American way of life -because ,all in all,the country which is mistreated is not Italy,it's Wilder's own country-,and even the Foreign Service, abound.And like in almost Wilder's comedies ,drama is not far away.An infinite nostalgia,even sadness grabs the viewer when Mills is left alone with the two dead bodies and her daffodils bouquets ,when Lemmon tries to pull together the photographs .A reductio ad absurdum of how illicit love can prove disinterested and finally the thrill of it all.While Juliet Mills 's character turns more and more physically attractive,as the movie progresses,Lemmon's one who was rather disagreeable wins over the audience little by little.The two actors are of one mind in the final thirty minutes.And they marvelously play,abetted by a colorful and fine supporting cast.
Wilder's career was not over afterwards.Often dismissed as a "sunset boulevard" ,"Fedora"(1976) should be restored to favor as well.
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