by Brian Alcamo

Do you ever think about how technology is disrupting your most intimate relationships? Maybe not recently, since online communication has been one of the key parts of staying sane during the pandemic. Even still, phone dings and Instagram pings can interrupt more than our workflow, they weasel their way into every conversation we have. Some of us still struggle to not check social media even when on a Zoom call. Notifications and the impulse to refresh our feeds normally simply erode our attention to the present moment, but in the movie Perfetti Sconosciuti, they end up bringing people together, if only to quickly push them apart. 

Perfetti Sconosciuti (Perfect Strangers) is a 2016 Italian film directed by Paolo Genovese that follows seven close friends as they share a meal and learn more about each other than they have in years. You might think that a movie set entirely at dinner sounds boring, but dinner isn’t the star of the show here, it’s technology. What starts as a friendly meal turns into a social experiment when Eva, played by Kasia Smutniak, decides to play a game with her and her husband Rocco’s (Marco Giallini) friends.  

The rules of the game in Perfetti Sconosciuti are simple. If someone’s phone buzzes, everyone else at the table gets to know every detail of the notification. Things start out simple enough, with little text messages sparking tiny rifts in friendships. It doesn’t take much time, though, for the real secrets to start spilling out. Lies, deceit, and evidence that some characters have moved from the similarities that led to friendship in the beginning start to fill the movie with tension. You never know whose phone will ring, and what new information will be revealed. 

Notifications are used as a ticking bomb in this movie, providing a sort of suspense that is hard to equate to anything other than a horror film. The difference between this movie and a horror film, though, is that you can’t shout at the screen “don’t go into that locked closet!” The characters commit their damning act early on in the film. Putting their phones on the table unleashes a plotline that takes a few elements from Greek tragedies: the second the devices are front and center, we know we will spend the rest of the movie watching our characters meet their demise.

What is interesting about this movie is that it is predicated on a very Italian (and European) form of friendship. These seven characters have been friends for life, and it can be seen in how comfortable they are in each other’s company. These people aren’t friends because of newfound adult common interests, or even because of college, they’re simply friends because they… always have been.

Long-term friendships like this don’t endure as commonly in the United States as they do in Italy. Americans are more likely to move out of their hometowns for work or other reasons, thus leaving behind the community in which they grew up. For the movie to work in an American context, it might need to feature a tight-knit nuclear family. Imagine you’re sitting at dinner, and your mom receives a text from her other child. A peaceful, enjoyable meal would probably be off the table (no pun intended). Secrets leap out of Pandora’s box in Perfetti Sconosciuti, and it’s only a matter of time before everyone’s dirty laundry is hung out to dry. 

Watch it On Your Own!

Will these seven italiani stay friends? Watch for yourself to find out. Perfetti Sconosciuti is a roller-coaster of a film, and you strap in to the mayhem from the very beginning. Check it out to practice your Italian listening skills while considering how technology impacts your relationships. The movie is so great that there’s an American version starring Issa Rae on the horizon. But be sure to watch the original so that you can tell your friends “Oh, I saw the Italian version already,” and feel like a hip and international cinema-lover. Would you ever try this experiment at a friends’ dinner? What about with your family? Comment below, and be sure to give this blog a heart!