Robert De Niro & Michelle Pfeiffer Lead a Life of Crime in This Black Comedy - Collider
The Big Picture
- The Family stars Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer, who play the mother and father of a mafia family in witness protection.
- The film blends mobster action with family comedy, with the characters struggling to come to terms with their new lives in rural France while also leaving their criminal past behind.
- The movie's heart is in its portrayal of love, loyalty, and family dynamics within the characters.
With one of the simplest yet most effective double meanings in a film title, The Family is an underrated gem of a movie that features Hollywood legends, young stars, and a shockingly effective combination of wildly different genres. Known as Malavita or Cosa Nostra in some international releases, The Family is a 2013 black comedy crime film that follows a mafia family hiding away in rural France as part of a witness protection program. Based on a French novel by author Tonino Benacquista, the movie is a daring and stylized collision of bloody mobster action with the genuine heart and connection of a family movie that'll leave the audience's hearts pumping with both adrenaline and affection by the time it's all said and done.
The Family (2013)
The Manzoni family, a notorious Mafia clan, is relocated to Normandy, France, under the Witness Protection Program, where fitting in soon becomes challenging as their old habits die hard.
- Release Date
- September 13, 2013
- Director
- Luc Besson
- Runtime
- 111 Minutes
- Writers
- Luc Besson , Michael Caleo , Tonino Benacquista
Who Do Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer Play in 'The Family'?
The titular family in the film is headed by cinema superstars Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer, a combination of talented actors who, surprisingly, had yet to star opposite one another. Though they had previously been in some of the same films, such as the fantasy adventure Stardust and the ensemble romance New Year's Eve, De Niro and Pfeiffer never actually appeared in any scenes together. And it's a shame that it had taken so long, because De Niro and Pfeiffer do a tremendous job portraying their characters, owning every scene that the two are in. De Niro plays former mafia boss Giovanni Manzoni, who survives an assassination attempt by a rival crime leader, snitching on his adversary to keep his family safe — with the unfortunate consequence of forcing them into hiding with witness protection. Sent to a rural town in Normandy, France, he and his prototypical mafia family must rein in their violent tendencies and keep their heads down, if they want to keep them.
A mafia man would be nothing more than just another mobster if he didn't have his own family, and Manzoni's wife and children are powerful and charismatic people befitting of their infamous reputation. Pfeiffer plays Maggie Manzoni, Giovanni's wife who, true to her family's business, is a scarily competent and fierce woman who holds herself and her family with the utmost pride and respect. Dianna Agron is the "Mob Girl Next Door," Belle, whose sweet and passionate personality underscores a gritty fieriness that would make even a stone-cold criminal shudder. John D'Leo rounds out the cast with a simultaneously comedic and threatening caricature of a young mobster in his role as Warren, a young teen who looks up to his father and yearns for his own chance to lead a crime family of his own. And though he's far from blood and arguably not a friend, Tommy Lee Jones adds another dimension to his film with his reliably gruff portrayal of the FBI agent assigned to the Manzoni family.
