Michael Mann has been trying to make a biographical feature of Italian legend Enzo Ferrari for a long time. How long? For one thing, the film’s writer Troy Kennedy Martin died 15 years ago. For another, since development on this 2023 release began Mann has released five other films including Ali, Collateral, and Public Enemies. I am assuming these are both factors in why Ferrari feels so out of step with modern filmmaking. This is the sort of adult, well-developed and comfortably funded drama that Hollywood used to make all the time. I suspect that is part of why the film underperformed with audiences and largely passed by the awards circuit empty-handed. Films like this simply do not have room any more between the low and high-budget fare. Things come on and off the screen too fast for the mid-range feature to cope any more.

It has taken less than three months for Ferrari to move from cinemas to streaming and home video. It is unfortunate that audiences did not see it on the big screen; it is a consolation that this well-produced and effective drama is now widely available at home.

Mann’s film picks up Ferrari (Adam Driver) in 1957. His elite car company is approaching bankruptcy. His marriage to his wife Laura (Penelope Cruz) is on the verge of collapse, as both grieve the death of their son Dino. Despite the difficulties, Ferrari places all of his focus on his cars winning the prestigious – and dangerous – Mille Miglia endurance race.

There are a lot of reasons why Ferrari excels, but most of them are linked to Martin’s screenplay. It does not attempt to shoe-horn Ferrari’s entire life and career into the space of two hours. It focuses not on the cars but the characters. Those characters are well-developed and complicated. Martin’s screenplay finds the most interesting element of the story and emphasises that: not the race, nor the cars, but the collapse of a marriage.

It is a creative choice that allows the film plenty of space for Laura Ferrari, played powerfully by Penelope Cruz. Her life has become an open wound, as she mourns her lost son, chafes against Enzo’s widely known infidelities, and – worst of all – learns he has set up a lover (Shailene Woodley) and illegitimate child in a house of their own.

Adam Driver struggles a little with his Italian accent, and it must be said he bears little resemblance to the real-life Ferrari, but he does produce a powerfully understated and bottled-up turn. He is at his best when paired with Cruz. They build a screen relationship that feels raw, real, and interesting to watch. Everything else in the film honestly feels like window dressing.

If the rest is window dressing, it’s at least pretty spectacular. It is no surprise that Mann directs wonders out of the tense car racing scenes, held at a time when elite races regularly came with a body count. The visual and sound design is second-to-none. Particularly good in these elements of the film is Patrick Dempsey, almost unrecognisable as driver Piero Taruffi and delivering a career-best performance.

Ferrari is intelligent, mature, and slickly made commercial cinema. I miss films like this terribly.