Happy as Lazzaro

"Rohrwacher Has Crafted A Magic-Realist Fable That Doubles as An Origin Myth for A Modern Italy"

The Guardian
  • Archive - Festival 34
  • Director: Alice Rohrwacher
  • Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany 2018
  • 125 minutes
  • Italian
  • Subtitles in Hebrew

This is the tale of a meeting between Lazzaro, a young peasant so good that he is often mistaken for simple-minded, and Tancredi, a young nobleman cursed by his imagination. Life in their isolated pastoral village Inviolata is dominated by the terrible Marchesa. A loyal bond is sealed when Tancredi asks Lazzaro to help him escape.

Winner of the Best Screenplay Award at Cannes this year, Alice Rohrwacher’s new film has been described as a combination of Pasolini’s characters and landscapes with Márquez’s magical realism.


  • Director Alice Rohrwacher
  • Production Carlo Cresto-Dina
  • Script Alice Rohrwacher
  • Cinematography Hélène Louvart
  • Editing Nelly Quettier
  • Festivals Cannes (Competition – Best Screenplay Award), Karlovy Vary
  • Actors Adriano Tardiolo, Agnese Graziani, Alba Rohrwacher, Luca Chikovani
  • Source United King Films, Ramat Hasharon