My Friends - Characters & Cast

His primary motivation is survival with style. He is driven by a need to maintain the illusion of his high-status life, even when living in a squalid basement with his long-suffering wife and daughter. He uses his charm and invention (like the supercazzola) to get by without ever resorting to actual work.

Mascetti begins and ends as an impoverished nobleman who has squandered his family's fortune but refuses to abandon his aristocratic pretensions. His arc is largely static; he does not grow or change but rather sinks deeper into a life of desperate schemes and charming manipulations to survive. He remains defiantly committed to his hedonistic, irresponsible lifestyle, clinging to friendship as his only real asset.

Perozzi is motivated by a desperate need to escape the crushing monotony and disappointment of his domestic and professional life. The zingarate with his friends are his only source of joy and vitality, a necessary antidote to his existential ennui.

As the film's narrator, Perozzi provides the story's cynical yet affectionate perspective. A journalist stuck in a loveless marriage and alienated from his serious-minded son, his arc is one of quiet desperation masked by jovial camaraderie. His journey is abruptly cut short by his death, which serves as the film's tragic climax and reinforces the theme of life's fragility. He is seen as the most lucid and disenchanted of the group.

Driven by a romantic and idealistic nature, Melandri constantly seeks a perfect, poetic love to rescue him from his loneliness. However, his true motivation seems to be the chase itself, as he is ill-equipped for the reality of a committed relationship.

Melandri is an architect and the sentimental heart of the group, perpetually falling in love with the idea of love itself. His arc involves a misguided attempt to find happiness through a relationship with Donatella, Professor Sassaroli's wife. When he finally gets her, he is quickly overwhelmed by the domestic responsibilities that come with her and her family, ultimately retreating back to the comfort and freedom of his friends.

Necchi's motivation is to find an outlet for his mischievous side while maintaining the stability of his family and business. He is described as a genius in inventing cruel pranks, suggesting a need for a creative and anarchic release from his otherwise conventional life.

Necchi is the owner of a bar that serves as the friends' frequent meeting place. As the most grounded and practical member of the group, his arc is minimal. He is a family man who participates eagerly in the pranks but is always tethered to the reality of his business and family life. He represents the bridge between the chaotic world of the zingarata and the mundane world of everyday work.

Sassaroli is motivated by a profound sense of boredom and detachment. Having achieved professional success, he finds more meaning and excitement in the friends' pointless pranks than in his serious medical practice. He seeks the thrill of the zingarata to combat his own ennui.

Sassaroli is a brilliant, wealthy, and bored surgeon who runs the clinic where the friends end up after a car accident. He begins as an outsider and a potential victim of their chaos but reveals himself to be even more cynical and playful than they are. He gladly gives his wife to Melandri and joins the group, becoming their fifth member and escalating the complexity of their pranks. His arc is one of finding a kinship with fellow spirits who share his disdain for life's seriousness.