Enrico Lucherini
The story of Italian cinema under Fascism, a sophisticated film industry built around the founding of the Cinecittà studios and the successful birth of a domestic star system, populated by very peculiar artists among whom stood out several beautiful, magnetic, special actresses; a dark story of war, drugs, sex, censorship and tragedy.
The relations between Parma and cinema were so strong for almost the whole of the twentieth century that this city became an early laboratory of ideas and theories on cinema and a set chosen by some of the greatest Italian authors and beyond. Furthermore, a considerable number of directors, actors, screenwriters and set designers were born in Parma who have made their way internationally, testifying to the fact that in this small city in Northern Italy there was a decidedly cinematic air. Red armchairs takes up the thread of this story, wondering why, unique among the Italian provincial cities, Parma has given so much to the cinema, accompanying the viewer on a journey backwards that from the first projections of the Lumière cinema reaches the ultramodern experience of new multiplexes. During this journey we will meet the characters who created the conditions for this diffusion of cinematographic culture in Parma.
A passionate cavalcade through decades of "coming attractions"
The sexual relationship between a successful woman and her brother, an introvert, hypochondriacal youth, who is also a pornophile.
Mario, a rich and eccentric war hero befriends Marco, a loner with a sailboat, and takes him home to meet his estranged wife Cleofe and sexually repressed sister in law Matilde. Mario confesses his love for Matilde and so ensues a love triangle.
Alice, a young translator, finds the real world slowly merging with her recurring nightmares as she tries to solve the puzzle of her recent memory loss. A postcard leads her to the island of Garma where the locals seems to know her. Is she who she thinks she is? And what significance does her dream of an astronaut abandoned on the moon have?
Sylvia, an industrial scientist, is troubled by strange hallucinations related to the tragic suicide of her mother.
An unidentified fifteen year-old girl is found hanged after an anonymous tip-off. The girl, Silvia Polvesi, is soon discovered to have been murdered. A peeping tom is caught with photos of her having sex with a teenage drop-out but he is later released due to lack of evidence. The investigation, conducted by Inspector Silvestri and the assistant public prosecutor Vittoria Stori, focuses on the girl's parents. It transpires that a private detective, Ruggero Pollente, was hired by Silvia's mother because the latter was concerned about her activities. As a conspiracy begins to emerge, Pollente's body is found dismembered and his girlfriend is subsequently attacked by a machete-wielding killer clad in motorcycle gear...
Duke Philippe married Cristina, daughter of a fisherman. But his brothers, seeing that these after marriage they would miss out inheritance, decide to get rid of the woman by imprisoning her in a tower and making the duke believe she died.
Stefano Argenti, an ambitious advertising executive, meets a curious hippie named Count Mateo Tiepolo and they form a strange bond. Having gained Stefano's confidence, Tiepolo reveals that he wants to kill his domineering brother. He suggests that Stefano carry out the killing and in exchange he offers to murder Luisa, Stefano's wife who is a barrier to his career and his affair with Fabienne, a model. Argenti is more curious than shocked but decides to reject the bizarre offer. However, a short-time later, his wife is strangled to death by an intruder and he becomes the prime suspect. By withholding evidence that could prove his innocence. Mateo blackmails Stefano into keeping his part of the bargain. But there is a twist ...
Tracing the struggle of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale to gain freedom from French colonial rule as seen through the eyes of Ali from his start as a petty thief to his rise to prominence in the organisation and capture by the French in 1957. The film traces the rebels' struggle and the increasingly extreme measures taken by the French government to quell the revolt.
