The Italian

The Italian (L'Italien, 2010), directed by Olivier Baroux, is a French comedy you can watch online on iFILM. Kad Merad plays Dino Fabrizzi — Nice's top Maserati salesman, polished and charming, Italian through and through by everyone's account. His actual name is Mourad Ben Saoud.

For years, Mourad built a second life from scratch: different name, different backstory, different everything. A directorship is being offered. His girlfriend Helen wants to get married. And Ramadan is ten days out, along with a promise he made to his ailing father to finally observe it. Keeping one identity intact while the other keeps pressing through turns out to be harder than closing any deal.

Baroux plays the premise without scoring moral points — this is a comedy about what assimilation costs, not a lecture about it. Merad holds the whole thing together; his timing is precise enough to make you forget how thin the wire he is walking actually is. Stream The Italian (2010) on iFILM.