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Film Description
The wife of a fisherman, Grazia's increasingly erratic behaviour is seen as problematic in the traditional Italian society in which she lives. Set on the Italian island of Lampedusa and gorgeously filmed, this is a sensual film about mothers and sons, accepting differences, and the power of love to bring renewal and reconciliation.
Again I'm faced with yet another movie with too much art and too little apparent meaning - or is the lack of apparent meaning art by itself? Many critics have describe... more >
Again I'm faced with yet another movie with too much art and too little apparent meaning - or is the lack of apparent meaning art by itself? Many critics have described this film as rich despite having a skeleton for a story line but I fail once more too admire these arthouse productions too much. Can we have some urgency somewhere please? I have no problems with subtitles and I stress that a movie can be enjoyable without being Tarantino or Spielberg-like in action and direction but watching this film is rather like watching a documentary -it's incredibly real and necessarily natural but it lacks purpose and development as far as I'm concerned. The texture of village life in the south of Italy is comprehensively captured with all the dynamics of a close-knit community revealed, but I'm afraid I just need a message that's a bit more obvious and powerful behind all the visual splendour. That's the simple man's truth.
The story is simple -a young mother, Grazia lives an idyllic life on Lampedusa, an isolated Sicilian island with her husband, two sons and a daughter. She's the kind of eccentric free-spirited woman who does things like bathe naked in the sea and roll about in the grass under the sun. Following strong disapproval from the village folks, she'd get into fits of rage and despression only to be shunned further by being construed as requiring psychiatric help. As she's faced with a forced visit to a Milano doctor, she runs away, finding support in her eldest son but soon it begins to get hard surviving in a cave and her husband is hot on her trail to locate her.
About the cast, I thought that Valeria Golina wasn't only remarkably beautiful but amazingly talented and could've really benefitted from a more fully-written character, especially since this is a relatively low-budget film which are known for depth in character exploration as opposed to elaborate special effects. The son Pasquale was played by Francesco Casisa and I think this is really one of the most superb performances by a child since the Osment kid in The Sixth Sense or Natalie Portman in Leon. My Italian housemates who watched this with me said that he couldn't be more convincing as a bored boy living on a traditional community, struggling with his coming-of-age sexual awareness (reminds me of the kid in Malena) and his admirable defense for his mother. The rest of the cast did a pretty good job but still I feel the talent on the set has been somewhat wasted by an unfocused plot. I'd like it more if the story had a more central theme (Grazia's instability maybe) instead of the "passing commentary" type of approach which jumps everywhere leaving me disorientated. The cult hit La Haine is an example of a film which takes this approach but it's central theme of the disorientation of urban youth is strong enough to permeate through the patchiness of the story, strong enough to tie in the entire tale into a substantial message.
The lack of urgency and dynamic story-telling is evident enough in this film to leave the viewer thoroughly dissatisfied, especially with a very interpretational ending. Crialese isn't a very prolific director with less than ten films under her belt but I'm still thinking how this film won a Cannes award with such an insufficient effort in narrating a story. Gorgeous as all the things in this film may be, I'd recommend this DVD only to those who love art a whole lot more than action. The genius of this film remains only its stunning cinematography and perfect title. Maybe it's just me but I like to feel more enriched or rewarded after a film.
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Emanuele Crialese's Respiro is alive, sensual, and transcendent. Set in Lampedusa, an island southwest of Sicily, it is a film about mothers and sons, accepting differ... more >
Emanuele Crialese's Respiro is alive, sensual, and transcendent. Set in Lampedusa, an island southwest of Sicily, it is a film about mothers and sons, accepting differences, and the power of love to bring renewal and reconciliation. The film reflects the warmth of the Italian family and the closeness that Italian sons feel for their mothers, but also shows the old-fashioned attitudes of the tight-knit community, especially the role of women. Gorgeously filmed by cinematographer Fabio Zamarion, Respiro captivates with its bright Mediterranean sunlight and the expressive faces of the people, tanned and strikingly beautiful. It's based on a local legend about a mother whose behavior was found to be offensive by the community and whose subsequent disappearance was the catalyst that brought the people together.
In Lampedusa, the husbands do the fishing, wives work in the fish processing plant, and the boys help out their fathers and catch fish to use as trade for a chance to win an electric train set. Grazia (Valeria Golino) is the wife of fisherman, Pietro (Vincenzo Amato) and mother of three. Unfortunately, Grazia's behavior becomes increasingly defined by erratic mood swings. She flings dishes across the room, swims naked with her sons, and releases a herd of dogs from captivity, but it is not clear if she is ill or just rebellious and the film walks a tightrope between suggesting madness or the eccentricities of a free spirit. The ending can be interpreted differently but its haunting beauty touched me. Is it to be taken literally, a dream of Pasquale's, or a fairy tale constructed from legend? I'm not sure but in any case, Respiro's combination of magic realism, natural beauty, and humanistic message will have you pricing the tickets for a trip to Lampedusa.
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