Sgarbi: “Benigni did the ‘phenomenon’ with phrases not his own, they are by Borges and Nabokov”

“It is not compulsory for one to quote phrases that are not his own, for heaven’s sake. But it is right that we know that Benigni has moved Italy with phrases that are not his own, but those of Jorge Luis Borges and Vladimir Nabokov, and in general it is better to mention the source “. This is how Vittorio Sgarbi comments at the Adnkronos on the media prominence of the romantic love phrases that Roberto Benigni dedicated to his wife Nicoletta Braschi in receiving the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. “I only know one way to measure time: with you or without you”, the Tuscan actor and director sang to the address of his wife sitting in the audience. “If he had mentioned Dante he would have recognized himself, because Dante writes in a language that is different from ours, while Borges writes sentences that are good for the lives of many”. “For heaven’s sake – observes the art critic – it’s okay because the sentence is beautiful, but Benigni played Borges. On the other hand, he is an actor”. But there is also another sentence which, reveals Sgarbi, was ‘copied’ by Benigni. “‘It was love at first sight, at last sight, at eternal sight’ is a phrase that the protagonist of Nabokov’s ‘Lolita’ Humbert Humbert says precisely about Lolita -explains the art critic- so this too is not sack flour of Benigni, whom he evidently loves ‘by proxy’ “. The Leone d’Oro “is fine because it is an award to the actor, but I would say the Viareggio Award is a bit inappropriate …”, concludes Sgarbi with irony.