A dramedy that tells, with irony and humor, the adventures of Eliseo, the janitor of an upper class building, who, behind the back of the managing company that employs him, uses his position to surveil and be intimately acquainted with the building's tenants.　　The building is a universe whose ecosystem has specific dynamics and rules, and Eliseo knows them all by heart. There he lives, works and absorbs every detail of the life of its residents. However, underneath all his humility, he hides a talent for manipulating them. A facade of servility and sincerity is his most effective weapon he uses on them. His power is knowledge. He knows everything about his neighbors: their names, schedules, jobs, relationships, weaknesses, likes, etc. His mind registers everything that goes on in the complex. With this advantage over his "victims", he devises strategies to influence each tenant and can calculate precisely how they will react. This game of power over the neighbors is akin to playing cat and mouse. Depending on his whims, his mood or his need to protect his position at all costs, he is capable of causing wide ranging damage. He also dispenses justice and protects those he sees as weak. He is a God on his own turf.

　　I saw this film twice on my first trip to Italy (my first European trip, so it already was magical) and loved it, which was high praise, since I'd only been studying Italian for a few months, on my own. As I remember, it's the story of a man in an old actors home who wins a lottery, and runs away with a pretty worker from the home. He is taken advantage of, I remember, but exactly how...? I have looked for this film on video, and I think United Artists may offer it, but perhaps only in Europe. I would love to see it again...Ugo Tognazzi was a wonderful actor, and expressed many things simultaneously, as he did in La Cage Aux Folles. Lucky you if you can see the movie. I was in love with my Primo [Italian] Amore at the time, so perhaps memory has sweetened recollection. But I think it was lots of fun to watch.　　I found this film one of the saddest ones which I've ever seen. Dino Risi is a brilliant director and made a great film which shows the aging. Ugo Tognazzi plays the actor who feels too young to be in an "old actor's house". He just can't stand the rules and the other old people so he escape with a young girl. The sad part comes from here because the girl wants her freedom, doesn't love the man and cheats him with other guys. In fact she never told the man that she loved him.

故事发生在风景如画的阿根廷。对少女桥格林纳（瓜妲卢裴·阿隆索 Guadalupe Alonso 饰）来说，炎热的夏天意味着洒满阳光的小路、划过脸颊的微咸汗水和肆意挥洒的灿烂笑容。然而，这一年，桥格林纳发现在不经意之间，自己的周围已经发生了翻天覆地的变化，父母之间的关系越来越差，渐渐长大的姐姐开始不再愿意和自己一同玩耍。