FADING GIGOLO Is Far From Sexy

Fading Gigolo is the comedy written and directed by John Turturro, who also plays the lead role of gigolo Fioravante. Woody Allen plays Fioravante’s pimp, Murray.

Both men are in need of cash as their flower and book stores aren’t doing so well. Murray had the brilliant idea of selling Fioravante, inspired by a conversation he had with his doctor (Sharon Stone), who apparently always wanted to have a ménage à trois with her friend (Sofía Vergara) and a man. Fioravante, at first, seems a little skeptical, but decides to try.

Fiovarante starts with the doctor, who wanted to “try him” alone first, and it is a moderate success, despite the nerves on both sides. Murray takes on the role of sweet talker and arranges more and more clients for Fioravante. They are fairly successful, and they both enjoy the money that starts to flow in, in big fat envelopes.

One day, Murray sets his eyes on the widow of a rabbi, Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), who never truly got over her husband’s death. After a lot of convincing, Murray convinces Avigal to come talk with his “therapist”.

“It…it…it…it…it…it………it’s been so long”

Does that not sound awfully shady? It did to me. Murray not only lies to her about what and who Fioravante is, they also tell her he’s a Jew, which he is definitely not. They approach her as a little bird with a broken wing that needs to be fixed. During her first “session” with Fioravante, he massages her, and when she allows him to touch her, she breaks out in tears. This was one hell of an awkward scene. With long, deep wails, she stutters… “it…it…it…it…it…it………it’s been so long” – with trembling, pouted lips, tears streaming down her face. It’s no wonder Vanessa Paradis never broke through in Hollywood – her acting here was just so below par that this scene was just absolutely awful to watch.

Although Fioravante never has sex with Avigal, she does pay him for the times they’re together. Turturro sugarcoats the deceit of a vulnerable woman by letting Fioravante fall in love with her, hinting at the loneliness of a gigolo, which apparently we should believe is equal to that of a widow. Meanwhile, he is still seeing other clients, although when he finally attempts the ménage with the two stunning women (who were both just demeaningly typecast and that’s all I’ll say about it), he “can’t do it”, and they both turn to him, they squee, pat him on the shoulder and congratulate him on being in love – read into that whatever you want.

Making Fun of a Culture is Not Funny

Moreover, what I found as jarring as the deceit of Avigal, was the portrayal of the Jewish community. Turturro makes fun of their values and lifestyle, and I found it very insulting, even though I’m not a Jew myself. While sometimes, cultural observations can be funny and keen, these were blunt and rude.

Altogether, the sequence of events in this movie is confusing and illogical – things happen for no reason other than to drive the plot forward without any concern for continuity, or to place a joke that is totally irrelevant to the story. Too little is explained regarding the relationships between the characters. Furthermore, the resolution of the story is odd and comes out of the blue, the movie ends with an open-ended monologue and a blank stare from Fioravante that makes you wonder whether they forgot to add in the actual ending.

Turturro is Self-Involved and Misguided

With Fading Gigolo, Turturro proves only how self-important he is. He takes himself and this movie too seriously. He mostly proves that he is not a good screenwriter (ample examples above). The movie clearly intended to carry out some observant, holistic message about the relationships between men and women, but in this, it utterly fails by staying too shallow and presenting deceit and poking fun at a culture as acceptable and funny.

Finally, and disappointingly, all the (actually) funny jokes were already put in the trailer, spoiling most of the comedy of the film. I’ll admit I loved the trailer for this movie. I thought this movie would be funny, I liked what I saw from the actors and as a whole, thought it seemed fairly promising. I couldn’t have been more wrong, and I was thoroughly disappointed and confused when I left the cinema.

All in all, I can’t recommend Fading Gigolo. It’s a stale movie with some very sinister ideas what men can do to vulnerable women under the guise of “fixing them”. The acting is average in general and painfully below average when it comes to Vanessa Paradis, and the whole script is poorly constructed and thought out. Let’s hope Turturro’s next project will be better – right now I’ll just try to remember him as Jesus in The Big Lebowski, which was a much more awesome character and, obviously, film.