I Hate Christmas Review: Christmas, A Difficult Time For Many | Odio il Natale Netflix

Cast: Pilar Fogliati, Beatrice Arnera, Cecilia Bertozzi, Fiorenza Pieri, Massimo Rigo, Sabrina Paravicini, Marzia Ubaldi

Creator: The Jacks

Streaming Platform: Netflix

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

As we will see in our review of, I Hate Christmas (Odio il Natale), the series directed by the Jacks (Davide Mardegan and Clemente De Muro) and produced by Lux Vide – as well as an adaptation of the Norwegian show Christmas with a stranger by Per-Olav Sørensen – is a fresh and entertaining, in which the romantic side inevitably ends up being overshadowed by the hilarious – and somewhat far-fetched – misadventures of its protagonist.

Christmas is buzzing on streaming platforms, and the first original Netflix Italian Christmas TV series certainly could not be missing in this festive atmosphere. It lands in the catalog of the streaming giant I hate Christmas, a series with 6 episodes set in Chioggia and starring Pilar Fogliati, already known for her roles in television successes such as Un Passo dal Cielo and Cuori. The Piedmontese actress here takes on the role of Gianna, a hardened single woman and a nurse by profession, determined to find a partner to present to her family by Christmas day. She will try to complete a rather difficult mission with the help of her lifelong friends played by Beatrice Arnera and Cecilia Bertozzi – and her sister, Fiorenza Pieri.

I Hate Christmas Review: The Story

Gianna is a 30-year-old girl who lives in Chioggia, professionally made, with a large family and faithful friends always by her side. It would seem that she lacks for nothing, yet, like every year, the approach of Christmas pushes Gianna to take stock of her life. Or rather, it pushes the people around her – especially her obsessive mother Marta (Sabrina Paravicini) – to carefully analyze her sentimental situation. And the answer is always the same: single. During the holiday season, everything seems to speak of love, and the fact that she is the only one unmarried and childless within her family certainly doesn’t make life easy for the girl. The only place that doesn’t matter is where she feels most comfortable about herself: the hospital where she works as a nurse.

Here Gianna takes care of her patients with passion and feels that she is being judged solely on her professional skills. Outside the hospital, however, the girl has the impression of always being under the magnifying glass of all those who think that she will be alone forever. This is how, during the umpteenth family reunion in which she is overwhelmed by advice on how she should manage her life, Gianna decides to surprise everyone with her: in fact, she announces that she is engaged to her and that she will be accompanied to the Christmas Eve dinner. Too bad it’s just a lie; Thus, the girl will have only 24 days to find a partner, between unlikely acquaintances, blind dates, and bitter disappointments. A journey in search of love that will prove to be a path to self-discovery.

I Hate Christmas Review and Analysis

Christmas has always been considered synonymous with joy and serenity. Streetlights, gift hunting, and family meals make the holiday season seem like a wonderful time. Yet this is not the case for everyone. Many people, just as Christmas approaches, begin to feel anxiety and melancholy, sensations often due to the year-end balance sheets, the excessive expectations of society and the fact of necessarily having to feel happy. I Hate Christmas brings to light this “dark side” of the holidays – known in English as the Christmas Blues, albeit with the light and de-dramatic tones that characterize this Italian series. Gianna, who would have nothing to recriminate, is made to feel strange and wrong as she is unable to satisfy what, according to many, should be the canonical image of a thirty-year-old at Christmas time: surrounded by the family she has built, alongside the person he loves and his children. But that shouldn’t be the measure of universal satisfaction.

In fact, not only love – understood as the sentimental one – brings happiness to life. A person’s existence is made up of many elements, and one’s level of satisfaction cannot be measured based on a single variable; therefore, no one should be allowed to judge what makes another’s life fulfilling. The greatest goal towards which one should aim is to take one’s path, understand what one’s very personal needs are and find one’s place in the world. Furthermore, as the series directed by Davide Mardegan and Clemente De Muro shows us, love takes on different forms and it is not only that towards the partner. There is love for family, for friends, for work, for a hobby. Each of these nuances of feeling contributes to one’s affirmation and the construction of one’s identity. In this sense, I hate Christmas, although the title would seem to suggest otherwise, can easily be defined as a hymn to love.

If Gianna is the protagonist of, I Hate Christmas, surely Chioggia, the city in which the series is set, is her perfect co-star. It represents the ideal setting for the events that are narrated here: it is magical, with the lights reflecting on the lagoon, it is on a human scale, just as the story told is close to that of all of us, and it is “suspended” – with its bridges and streets overlooking the water – just like Gianna’s life, halfway between what it was and what it will become. Chioggia is also lively, a small Venice animated by bars and shops that form the backdrop for all the different relationships that our protagonist weaves over the course of the six episodes that make up the series.

Pilar Fogliati, already known for her roles in television successes such as Un Passo dal Cielo, is quite convincing in the role of Gianna, as she perfectly represents today’s 30-year-old generation, between habits, aspirations and difficulties. Sure, her character is often over the top and certainly suffers from verbal incontinence, but this doesn’t depend on the interpretation of the Piedmontese actress if anything on a story that, deliberately, wants to be fun, fresh and even a little improbable. Even the expedient of the protagonist breaking the fourth wall allows the audience to come into direct contact with Gianna, empathizing and reflecting on her. The work of the supporting cast is good, which never dominates the main character but does not even remain in the rear, completing even its journey.

I Hate Christmas Review: The Last Words

The one directed by Davide Mardegan and Clemente De Muro and starring a perfect Pilar Fogliati is the first Italian Christmas series by Netflix. I hate Christmas is a fun and fresh show, but also capable of making us reflect on the importance of finding one’s place in the world and following one’s aspirations. Often over the top and far-fetched, it’s nonetheless a vision that requires a little suspension of disbelief on the part of the viewer.