Image from here.
Tonight is Inspector Montalbano night and it doesn't bother me one bit that it will be the second time this week I've watched the same episode.
Lush Sicilian scenery with hot sun beating down on the landscape of rich colours glaring out from my TV and I'm there. It's a simple and entertaining escape from the cold, miserable British winter and the long dark nights ahead.
It won't last long so I'll enjoy it while I can. There are only two more episodes left in this series. Dishy actor Luca Zingeretti draws me in as much as the gorgeous setting. I've taken the other characters to heart too - Fazio, Augello, and Galluzzo.
The intellectually challenged, loyal and hardworking Caterella still amuses me but he has got to stop the repetitive slapstick fall through il Commissario's door every time he enters his office. It's getting a bit annoying. I'd like to see him developed a bit more.
I also find the melodrama a bit of a giggle when I'm supposed to empathise with the character's loss - such as when Beba and Mimi's young son, mini Salvo, went missing in an earlier episode and Beba overplayed the grief with lots of dramatic poses, hand gestures, facial expressions and faints - but then my mother was Italian and Melodrama was her middle name. Perhaps it's a cultural thing or maybe I've just lost the comedy intention in translation.
I guess I won't be alone curling up in bed with my glass of vino rosso and the Inspector on my iPlayer tonight. There's probably millions of other women like me looking forward to the weekly dose of hunk, sun and mystery and the opportunity to pick up a few simple Italian phrases such as "non lo so" (I don't know) "certo" (of course) "partire" (to leave) and if I'm correct "anche" which means also.
Most visitors to this blog have come via a search for "Inspector Montalbano" which I wrote about here at the time the last series ended in the UK.
It's obviously a very popular show in Europe and I hope another series will be planned in future. It's a shame it's not advertised better. I stumbled across the first series and the start of the second purely by chance.
Hi Pat,
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the post, and you passion for Montalbano.
Would you be interested in doing a post for my blog, CrimeTimePreview, about why you rate the show so much?
If you would, just leave a message on my blog, and I'll get back to back.
Happy viewing!
Thanks Robin. Yes, I'd be delighted.I have sent you an email via Crime Time Preview's contact form.
ReplyDeleteHello Pat, sono d'accordo!
ReplyDeleteCame here from your guestpost on Robin Jarossi's excellent blog.
I, too, relish the show. It's lovely to hear it in Italian, too (all the series have been run on French TV, and the French dub everything, chiz, chiz, chiz). Confess to operating on a lower level than you, as I have been learning lots of new sweary stuff from Montalbano. Now inclined to mutter darkly about those 'stronzi', these 'bastardi', or 'il piu grandissimo cornuto' etc., whenever crossed!
Grazie tante.
heh heh heh - I already knew some of those :) The only Italian phrase my other English bulldog half has picked up is fa fan gula. that may be spelled completely wrong but it is talian for F. Off.
ReplyDeleteIt was probably the first Italian word I ever learned. My mum was Italian but never used the language with us. In my rebellious teenage years, I hung about with a group that included some Anglo Italian boys who had been taught the language by their parents and used it daily.
They said the next time my mum nagged me, I should ask her what that meant. I did, thinking that she would be too naive to know, but she did and I had some serious backtracking to do thereafter. Phew!
I also love Robin's blog and was delighted to be asked to write a post for it.
Thanks for popping in too. I don't know quite what I'll do on Saturday nights when Montalbano ends but hopefully he'll be back.