Overview
Ferrari is an American biographical sports drama film released in 2023 which was directed by Michael Mann and written by Troy Kennedy Martin. It is based on the biography by Brock Yates published in 1991 called Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine and covers the life of the Italian automobile manufacturer Enzo Ferrari, the founder of Ferrari S.p.A.
The film does not span Ferrari’s life or overfocus on his racing empire. Instead, it captures an important summer in 1957, which was marked by financial difficulties, personal loss, marriage disputes, and an unprecedented stress of sponsoring one of the deadliest endurance races – the Mille Miglia.
Along with Adam Driver, the ensemble cast brought sheer magic to the racing and racing-adjacent drama. Ferrari may not have topped the box office, but audience and critics alike have shared their praise over the film’s performances, direction, technical artistry, and craftsmanship.
Plot Summary
The year is 1957. The story is set in a town called Modena in Italy. Ferrari Enzo is in a dire state. He is mourning the death of his beloved son Dino, and the grief is impacting both his personal and work life. His marriage with Laura Ferrari is ice cold, and further worsened by the fact that Enzo has a long standing affair with Lina Lardi, who is secretly raising Piero, their illegitimate son.
Simultaneously, Ferrari’s business is on the edge of collapse. The company is not in any stable shape financially, which is putting the company’s future at risk. To make matters worse, Enzo is in a desperate state to reinforce the company’s image and profitability. The company’s profitability is at an all time low. He decides to try and win the Mille Miglia; a legendary endurance race that is almost 1000 miles long, an open race that is across the entire Italy and it tests both the car and the driver to their limits.
As the race approaches, Enzo is micromanaging the race and the team due to the pressure he is under from his business partners, competition, and the media. He assigns the race to a team of skilled but fragile drivers. The team includes Alfonso de Portago, Piero Taruffi and Peter Collins.
The film culminates with the Mille Miglia, where tragedy occurs with the crash of one of the Ferrari cars. Driver Alfonso de Portago along with multiple spectators perished in the crash. This incident faces severe public disfavor along with legal and press condemnation. At the same moment, critical reveals about Enzo’s finance and Laura confronting about the ongoing affair results in his personal life disintegrating.
Enzo’s coming to terms with his grief, life, and mistakes, and his legacy begins to embrace him in the chaos. We witness the dawn of Ferrari’s next chapter in the film’s final moments, one rooted in emotional healing in addition to engineering brilliance.
Main Cast
Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari is a man of loss, of ambition, and a man of many contradicting layers. With such traits, his character is portrayed skillfully by Adam Driver, whose genius and vulnerability of the icon is captured in the film.
Penélope Cruz as Laura Ferrari
Cruz gives a sharp powerful performance as Enzo’s wife, sharp, bitter, but emotionally resonant. Laura Ferrari is a complex character, ethnically Ferrari’s legacy is understated and Cruz give life to this neglect.
Shailene Woodley as Lina Lardi
Woodley is prolific, as Enzo’s mistress and the mother of his illegitimate son, she portrays Lina with suffusion of warmth and sensitivity. Woodley interprets Lina to be devoted and morally sound to the man she loves.
Patrick Dempsey as Piero Taruffi, Gabriel Leone as Alfonso De Portago, and Jack O’Connell as Peter Collins complete the cast of Ferrari drivers, adding intense drama to the racing scenes.
Direction and Visual Style
Michael Mann, the director of the film, is well known for his attention to detail. He blends visual poetry with muscular realism, revamping racing scenes with unparalleled visceral intensity. Ferrari’s engine roaring and tires screeching are accompanied by the unforgiving dangers of high-speed competition.
Michael Mann’s pacing is deliberate, as he prioritizes mood and atmosphere. Mann is known for his character studies, and unlike other directors, Mann chooses to unfold the film with hushed dialogues, absent sound, and heated standoffs. These calm moments stand out from the overwhelming noise of the races, showcasing the two-sided nature of Ferrari’s existence: a world of refined controlled elegance in the boardroom and at the same time, ruthless chaos on the track.
In indoor Zen’s scenes, Erik Messerschmidt, the film’s director of photography, uses muted, dull colors to capture the grief and emotional coldness, while he employs vibrant shades of blue and red in racing scenes to emphasize his brand. Ferrari’s logo is excellently portrayed through the colors blue, red, and the racing stripes of Italy.
Themes and Analysis
- Grief and Legacy
While the film focuses on cars, it is mostly about their maker—a man mourning the loss of the son he couldn’t save. Every decision he makes is haunted by Dino’s death, and the film portrays that emotional burden with a dignified restraint.
- Ambition vs. Humanity
Perfectionist Enzo is a man who is ready to forfeit almost everything, including personal relationships, to achieve success on his company. But the film doesn’t celebrate this uncritically and instead asks whether this unrestrained pursuit of success is worth the unimaginable human cost involved.
- The Price of Innovation
Ferrari does not glamorize racing, and this is apparent in the morally ambiguous, deady yet thrilling portrayal of The Mille Miglia. The film interrogates the creators of innovative machines, considering the great speed and power they bring and the grave responsibility that accompanies it.
- Duality of Family
Enzo is caught between two families, his legal wife and the Ferrari empire on one hand, and his mistress and son Piero on the other. The film reflects on his guilt and attempts to balance both parts of his life.
Reception and IMDb Rating
Ferrari has an IMDb rating hovering around 6.8/10 in the first half of 2025, indicating that the audience had a largely favorable reception. Critics highlighted the film’s stunning visuals and performances, especially by Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz.
Some reviewers seem to have an issue with the film’s emotional detachment and languid pacing, especially for audiences wishing for a more action-packed experience. However, the film’s national board honored it as one of the top ten films of the year, and Cruz received several award nominations for the best supporting actress.
Strengths
Captivating lead and supporting performances
Exemplary direction and cinematography
Genuine period detail and production design
Avoids the pitfalls of clichés in a character-driven narrative
Well-executed immersive racing sequences
Weaknesses
Emotionally sluggish pacing for some
Shallow treatment of Enzo’s legacy or Ferrari’s development after 1957
Supporting characters are underdeveloped aside from the core family conflict
Conclusion
Rather than a conventional racing or a biographical film, Ferrari is an in-depth exploration of the multifaceted crises of a single man. Michael Mann’s precision and artistry in filmmaking shine through in his captivating ensemble, from Adam Driver to Cruz.
Instead of celebrating Enzo Ferrari, the movie depicts him as someone whose enormous suffering in life has made him a man of relentless ambition—a man whose genius serves as both a gift and a curse since he constantly battles time, tragedy, and his own missteps. If you seek an in-depth, beautifully cinematic exploration of history, Ferrari provides a deeply moving and powerful experience.
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