''The King of Laughter'' ( it, Qui rido io, lit= Here I laugh) is a 2021 Italian-Spanish

biographical drama A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudr ...

film directed by Mario Martone about actor and playwright Eduardo Scarpetta's legal battle against Gabriele D'Annunzio over his parody of the latter's '' The Daughter of Iorio'' (1904).

Toni Servillo Marco Antonio Servillo (), known as Toni Servillo, is an Italian actor and theatrical director. He has won the European Film Award for Best Actor twice, in 2008 for both '' Gomorrah'' and ''Il Divo'' and in 2013 for ''The Great Beauty'', as wel ...

stars as Scarpetta. The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the

78th Venice International Film Festival The 78th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 1 to 11 September 2021. South Korean director Bong Joon-ho was appointed as the President of the Jury, marking the first time a South Korean director has been picked as the festiv ...

Cast

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, 80% of 5 critics gave the film a positive review. Reviewing the film for ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' at the Venice Film Festival, Guy Lodge wrote, "Martone’s film certainly appears to channel the spirit of Scarpetta, though its 18-course tribute banquet doesn’t leave you particularly hungry to investigate further."

References

External links

* 2021 films 2021 drama films Biographical films about actors Courtroom films Films about playwrights Films about theatre Films directed by Mario Martone Films set in Naples Films set in the 1900s Films set in the 1910s Films set in the 1920s Films shot in Naples Italian biographical drama films Spanish biographical drama films Cultural depictions of Gabriele D'Annunzio 2020s Italian films 2020s Spanish films {{2020s-drama-film-stub