“Madly”, an interview with director Paolo Genovese

July 14, 2025

As is latest, "Madly" is breaking new records, Paolo Genovese assures: 'an artist doesn’t have to give the audience what he knows they will like, but something they could like, something new.'

"Madly", an interview with director Paolo Genovese Bénédicte Prot

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Since his debut solo feature in 2010, after a successful career in advertising and as a TV director, prolific Italian filmmaker and two-time novelist Paolo Genovese has conquered the public (and the box office) times and times again with his astute comedies gently exposing, through various high concept devices, the endearing flaws and vulnerabilities we all have, delivers another delightful crowd-pleaser where his interest in the meanders of the mind reaches new heights: “Madly” (“FolleMente“, meaning ‘madly’ but also sounding like ‘crazy minds’ in its original language).

The sentimental-driven comedy starring Edoardo Leo and Pilar Fogliati in the lead roles – revolving around a first date and shot in one single location, a flat –, already a resounding success in Italy, seems on its way to reiterate the prowess of his “Perfect Strangers” (2016), which holds the Guinness book world record for the most remade movie in cinema history (with 24 remakes).

As Genovese was at the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival to meet the public and show his new film, we took the opportunity to ask him a few questions about the origins of the project – an ad the filmmaker directed twenty years ago, followed by a ‘small-budget film no one saw, unfortunately’ – and how it evolved to become the feature he is presenting now. The director (also known for “The Immature“, “Blame Freud“, “A Perfect Family” or “The Place“) describes what he perceives to be the more salient modern insecurities, and elaborates on the current popularity of psychoanalytical notions once widely rejected, also underlining the timelessness and universality of certain conflicts when it comes to the way the individual faces human connections.

Genovese gives a few examples of what social media and text messaging have done to us, and how they lead to the construction of fake personae as well as reveal ‘parts of the human nature we didn’t really know existed.‘

We also ask him about his relationship with the public and the great acclaim “Madly” has received so far.

On the most obvious new insecurities which have emerged in recent years

What changed the most, says Paolo Genovese, since the first works in which played with the concept also at the core of “Madly“, ‘is the relationship between men and women’, and although those changes are a good thing, this ‘new balance in the couple’ can be approached with irony. ‘Men especially have developed insecurities. We now need to redefine our role in society, and with regards to the new role of the woman. Change has never happened faster than in the last ten years, so men are insecure’ and don’t exactly know how to behave, about important things, but also more trivial, potentially funny situations, like paying at the restaurant or holding the door, and ‘people relate a lot to that.‘

On contemplating our imperfections through a specific point of view

‘People love when a movie talks about their lives, when it touches something deep and they think “Wow, I’m imperfect, but a lot of people are imperfect, this story is telling me that we are all imperfect!”. And to understand how imperfect we are, we have to choose a new point of view from which no one has looked at things yet. In “Perfect Strangers”, the point of view was the phone, where we put all of our secrets. This is also the fil rouge in “Madly”: in “Madly”, we try to understand the people as seen from one point of view: our head, our brain. It’s the same as the phone: it’s where we put all our life, all our secrets. And when a movie presents a point of view which is inaccessible in real life, like your head, like your phone, it’s interesting.‘

On not feeling insecure himself when it comes to presenting the public with a new film

‘If I am happy about my story,[I feel fine]. What is important is to have an audience, no matter how big or small it is, and when I finish a movie and I’m happy about it, I am sure there will be an audience.If it’s big, it’s better, but if it’s a small one, it’s ok anyway.When you write a movie, I think you don’t have to wonder if the audience will like it. For me, an artist doesn’t have to give the audience what they knowthe audience will like: they have to give the audience something that maybe they could like, something new,something you can’t be sure people will like because if you’re sure, it means that this story has already been done. If it’s new story, a new idea, a truly new idea, it is a risk, and you have to take that risk.’

On meeting the public and different audiences

‘I really go all around the world to festivals, for Q&As with the public, and it’s always interesting, because [it always allows you to understand how the public] feels about your story […], and many times, they understand something that you never thought about but which is true, it’s a new meaning, and so it’s interesting, especially seeing how different cultures react… With every culture, the reaction is different, and I find it very interesting to collect all these reactions to understand what, in the movie, is truly international, what everyone can understand and what is very local and Italian.‘

Plot

'One summer evening in Rome, a table set for dinner, and anticipation. Who, however, are the four men and four women bickering about how Pietro and Lara should behave at their romantic dinner? The often contradictory thoughts of the evening’s two protagonists take on human form, and the act of pondering one’s next steps in a delicate situation has never been so much fun.' (Karel Och, Karlovy Vary official website)

Written by: Bénédicte Prot

Pilar Fogliati