Stars: Margherita Buy, John Turturro, Giulia Lazzarini
Storyline
These are hard days for Margherita, who is going through a very difficult period in her life. On a professional level first, the middle-aged film director, has started wondering whether the committed movies she has been making are really an actual reflection of the world she lives in ; on top of this, she is in conflict not only with her crew but also, and primarily, with Barry Huggins, a well-known American actor of Italian origin, who proves awfully bad and uncontrollable. On the personal level, things do not get any better - it could even be said they are worse. Margherita has just left her life partner and she has become unable to relate to her teenage daughter. As for her mother, she is now seriously ill and her doctor tries to prepare her brother and her for the worst. Which is unacceptable to the weakened woman who can find salvation only in denial of reality. Will she manage to face up to the facts and to come to terms with herself?
Writers: Nanni Moretti, Valia Santella, Margherita Buy, John Turturro, Giulia Lazzarini, Margherita Buy, John Turturro, Giulia Lazzarini, Nanni Moretti, Beatrice Mancini, Stefano Abbati, Enrico Ianniello, Anna Bellato, Toni Laudadio, Lorenzo Gioielli, Pietro Ragusa, Tatiana Lepore, Monica Samassa, Vanessa Scalera, Davide Iacopini, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Cast: Margherita Buy -
Margherita
John Turturro -
Barry Huggins
Giulia Lazzarini -
Ada
Nanni Moretti -
Giovanni
Beatrice Mancini -
Livia
Stefano Abbati -
Federico
Enrico Ianniello -
Vittorio
Anna Bellato -
Attrice
Toni Laudadio -
Produttore
Lorenzo Gioielli -
Interprete
Pietro Ragusa -
Bruno
Tatiana Lepore -
Segretaria di edizione
Monica Samassa -
Medico
Vanessa Scalera -
Infermiera
Davide Iacopini -
Impiegato Elgi
Trivia:
According to Nanni Moretti, the real autobiographical aspect of the film 'is the feeling that Margherita has - that she never feels up to what she's doing, that she's always ill at ease'. See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 8/10
Nanni Moretti may not be everybody's cup of tea, but his relevance
cannot be denied. Very few artists has been so constantly present, so
honestly faithful to themselves, and at the same time so careful in
portraying the evolution of Italian society in the last decades. You
put together the twelve movies Moretti has done in his forty years of
activity and you get a perfect course in history of this country. It is
not strange, then, that his latest movie looks like an attempt to
portray confusion and uncertainty. As almost always, the story is based
on personal experience from Moretti. In the past he has made movies
about growing up and getting older (Caro Diario), movies about having a
son (Aprile), and now he is sharing with the audience his reflections
about the recent loss of his mother, frequently mentioned – and, once,
even featured – in his works.
The story is about a director trying to complete a movie set in the
contemporary scenario of economic crisis, focused on the loss of jobs
in an Italian factory after the purchase of the compound from a USA
investor. But the director cannot concentrate on the movie, as her old
mother is dying in a hospital. There is a big difference between the
main story (the death of the mother), which is told in a solemn and
painfully slow way, and the story in the story (the script of the
director's movie), whose lines and situations are formulaic, simple to
the edge of stupidity ("Shit", as John Turturro says honestly in a
moment of rage). Losing your mother is something that everybody's know
is coming, sooner or later, but this doesn't mean you can be prepared:
and in front of this terribly huge moment, everything else seems silly
and preposterous.
The overall acting effort is really something to appreciate: Margherita
Buy provides a complex, troubled counterpart for Moretti, who has
limited himself to a supporting – yet important – role. John Turturro
is the bright spot of the story: most of the situations where he is
involved are really funny (neurotic Turturro and anxious Margherita Buy
are a comedy duo with potential). Giulia Lazzarini portrays the sick
mother, her energies slowly fading, with sensibility and measure: a
really moving performance. She is by far the emotional centerpiece of
the whole movie: in a story where everybody else seems willing to quit
everything (relationships, day jobs, movie careers) for lack of
meaning, the frail and weakened character of the mother, still willing
to teach Latin to his niece until her very last moment and breath,
actually teaches through the deep relationships she has with her
family, and even with her former students, the surprising strength of
human boundaries and love.
0