Il Posto

 Il Posto (1961, Italy, Ermanno Olmi)

The great Italian director Ermanno Olmi, who sadly passed away in 2018, is more famously associated with his 1978 Palme d’Or winning The Tree of Wooden Clogs. However, it is his 1961 Il Posto (which won the Italian critics’ award at Venice Film Festival) that is a personal favourite. The film won my 2014 Movie World Cup beating out Robert Bresson’s L’Argent 5-3. I recently revisited the film to see how it holds up.

Il Posto brilliantly depicts the journey of young Domenico (Sandro Panseri) entering the workforce with precise detail starting with the stress associated with writing an exam to nervous anticipation of a job interview to the fate that awaits when one gets the job; the dreaded office desk where a person can spend decades sitting in one spot. 

A promotion means a person moves up just one spot to a desk nearer to the front.

As Il Posto shows, this front desk has more light while the desk at the back of the room is partially dark. Using such a simple technique of depicting rows of desks lit differently, Olmi is able to highlight the hierarchy and seniority that exists in offices. Of course, a variation in other companies is that a promotion signifies moving to a better cubicle or an office with a window. 

Olmi also manages to incorporate plenty of tiny details that highlight workplace rituals and customs while portraying differences in big city life vs a smaller town. Domenico lives in Meda, a small town, on the outskirts of Milan. Time has no meaning in Meda while the pace of life slower with horse-carts still visible. However, the pace of life in Milan is faster and life is dictated by the clock. Domenico quickly learns this as he has to wake up early to catch the train to get to his job interview in Milan.

In the office, the clock dictates everything. If one is late to office, then a late slip has to be signed by the big boss.

As soon as the clock indicates lunch time, everyone rushes out to grab a bite to eat before they have to return back.

And then there is the waiting for the clock to indicate the end of the work day.

Il Posto also lovingly incorporates elements of romance and the excitement, hesitation, jealously, waiting and expectation that comes with meeting someone. Olmi’s beautiful film was made back in 1961 but it will always be contemporary as long humans have to find a job or have to seek out a companion.

I absolutely loved watching this film again and appreciated many of the details I missed seven years ago. Of course, all these details were always in the film. This line from Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory applies to my heightened appreciation:

“The film is the same….It’s your eyes that have changed.”