Fading Gigolo

USA 2013
produced by
Bill Block, Paul Hanson, Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte, Scott Ferguson (executive), Anton Lessine (executive), Sasha Shapiro (executive), Bart Walker (executive) for Antidote Films, QED
directed by John Turturro
starring John Turturro, Woody Allen, Vanessa Paradis, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Liev Schreiber, Tonya Pinkins, Bob Balaban, Max Casella, Jill Scott, Aida Turturro, Michael Badalucco, David Margulies, Katherine Borowitz, Loan Chabanol, Delphina Belle, Allen Lewis Rickman, Eugenia Kuzmina, Ari Barkan, Elli, Joseph Basile, Jade Dixon, Teddy Bergman, Anna Kuchma, Diego Turturro, Aurelie Claudel, Dante Hoagland, Sol Frieder, Donna Sue Jahier, Hilma Falkowski, Abe Altman, Aubrey Joseph, Ted Sutherland, Fran Lieu, Isaiah Clifton, M'Barka Ben Taleb, Russell Posner, David Altcheck, Ness Krell, Salimatou Sillah
written by John Turturro, music by Abraham Laboriel, Bill Maxwell

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Murray (Woody Allen) has to close up his bookstore. His best friend Fioravante (John Turturro) works part time at a florist, but hardly ever manages to make ends meet. But Murray has a dermatologist, Dr Parker (Sharon Stone), who's looking for a stud to have a threesome together with her best friend (Sofia Vergara) - she'd even pay for it. For some reason she asks Murray if he knows such a man, and for some reason he says yes, thinking of Fioravante. It takes quite a bit of convincing of course, but ultimately Fioravante wills in to have a test-date - at first only with Dr Parker. Fioravante is quick to see the advantages of the life as gigolo, and of course he likes the money, so Murray books him more and more willing women - for a 40% cut of course -, and uses his klutzy eloquence and his very square appearance to chat up the right sort of clientele, too.

Eventually, Murray comes across Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), a rabbi's widow who lives according to hassidic customs and laws, and who hasn't seen happiness since her husband has died ... and somehow, Murray persuades her, who is pretty much not allowed to sit next to a man, to pay a visit to Fioravante. There is no sex involved of course, but he's soon allowed to massage her, cook dinner for her and the like. She blossoms in this relationship (even if she pays him), and he gradually falls in love with her. This is all too much for hassidic neighbourhood watchman Dovi (Liev Schreiber), who's secretly in love with Avigal, so he investigates Murray - and soon enough has him put in front of a hassidic court, where Murray's about to be convicted, too, until Avigal interrupts the proceedings to speak in Murray's favour.

... and incredibly enough, Dovi at the end gets Avigal after all, while Fioravante is left so heart-broken that he quits as Murray's gigolo and wants to skip town altogether - but Murray can be very persuasive if he wants to be ...

While the subject matter of Fading Gigolo sounds positively sleazy, and the film contains a few sex scenes too, above all else it's actually a rather sweet comedy as it concentrates on the humane aspects of its story, avoids sensationalism and gloss, and scores big in casting against type. Add to this pretty sharp dialogue, a great cast (including Woody Allen giving one of his best performances in decades), and some great New York locations, and you've got a pretty funny film. Sure, the whole thing drags at times, and the resolution (with Dovi getting the girl) comes out of the blue and doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's still an entirely entertaining experience.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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