Based on the book by Domenico StarnoneBased on the book by Domenico StarnoneBased on the book by Domenico Starnone
- Awards
- 2 wins & 5 nominations
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRadiohead's frontman Thom Yorke wrote the Original Motion Soundtrack for this film.
Featured review
The power of a secret
A secret, confided by a teacher, Pietro, to his lover Teresa, an ex-student (but not to the spectator) is the center of this film. The secret is bad enough that Teresa leaves him because of it, but will from then on threaten to reveal it, which supposedly has the power to ruin the life of the teacher. Pietro, by the way, is a passionate teacher, who later becomes famous for writing on his "pedagogy of affection". He also starts a family, marrying Teresa's math teacher. Teresa doesn't take that well.
I tend to like films driven by dark secrets (particularly of the non-magic realistic kind), so I decided to watch this, even though I didn't have all too high expectations. But the film turned out to be very good. The performance of Federica Rosselini is spectacular; her Teresa is very fascinating and even more scary, and Rosselini manages to deliver her part far from any Hollywood cliche of such a role. It would work very well in a proper horror film, which this one isn't, even if just as horrifying. Elio Germano as Pietro comes over as rather bland, but the more the film goes on, the more sense does his portrayal of Pietro make. With hindsight, the story can be seen as straight and fairly simple, and from earlier information quite a bit can be guessed, but surprisingly it managed to keep me on tenterhooks almost all the time. With all the psychological depth, allusions and allegories there is enough material and depth to sink the teeth in. One of the major draws is that we figure our over time what kind of person Pietro is, even if we are never explicitly told his secret - but we can guess. I can now think of at least two versions that make sense, but in the end I can respect that the director Daniele Lucchetti doesn't reveal it - in this case it doesn't seem lazy but rather effective. I thought for more than half of the time that it'd annoy me big time to not find out, but in the end I was fine with it - well done Daniele!
Then we have a very special soundtrack by Thom Yorke. In some scenes the music is really very imposing. As a music lover I appreciate the quality of the music, but having such a dominating soundtrack is certainly not everybody's cup of tea. It contributes very well to the suspense (to the point of occasionally exaggerating it); in other parts, it defies expectations and comments on some scenes in a somewhat ironic manner. Chances are that all this is as it was intended, and the music alone could be a reason to watch this once more (maybe also spotting more of the visual details). The cinematography is also impressive, as we know it from Italian films.
We may ask: But would Pietro really tell such a secret to Teresa, not only giving her something big to haunt him, but also apparently risking their love story? Well, we can discuss this after you have seen the film, but thinking a bit about this, I think I buy it.
Overall this is a suspenseful, intelligent and deep film that I liked a lot. It is not without flaws (the suspense atmosphere is sometimes overdone; not all acting is at Rosselini's level; not sure I concur with any implications regarding the education system), but these are relatively minor. 8.6/10 rounded up.
I tend to like films driven by dark secrets (particularly of the non-magic realistic kind), so I decided to watch this, even though I didn't have all too high expectations. But the film turned out to be very good. The performance of Federica Rosselini is spectacular; her Teresa is very fascinating and even more scary, and Rosselini manages to deliver her part far from any Hollywood cliche of such a role. It would work very well in a proper horror film, which this one isn't, even if just as horrifying. Elio Germano as Pietro comes over as rather bland, but the more the film goes on, the more sense does his portrayal of Pietro make. With hindsight, the story can be seen as straight and fairly simple, and from earlier information quite a bit can be guessed, but surprisingly it managed to keep me on tenterhooks almost all the time. With all the psychological depth, allusions and allegories there is enough material and depth to sink the teeth in. One of the major draws is that we figure our over time what kind of person Pietro is, even if we are never explicitly told his secret - but we can guess. I can now think of at least two versions that make sense, but in the end I can respect that the director Daniele Lucchetti doesn't reveal it - in this case it doesn't seem lazy but rather effective. I thought for more than half of the time that it'd annoy me big time to not find out, but in the end I was fine with it - well done Daniele!
Then we have a very special soundtrack by Thom Yorke. In some scenes the music is really very imposing. As a music lover I appreciate the quality of the music, but having such a dominating soundtrack is certainly not everybody's cup of tea. It contributes very well to the suspense (to the point of occasionally exaggerating it); in other parts, it defies expectations and comments on some scenes in a somewhat ironic manner. Chances are that all this is as it was intended, and the music alone could be a reason to watch this once more (maybe also spotting more of the visual details). The cinematography is also impressive, as we know it from Italian films.
We may ask: But would Pietro really tell such a secret to Teresa, not only giving her something big to haunt him, but also apparently risking their love story? Well, we can discuss this after you have seen the film, but thinking a bit about this, I think I buy it.
Overall this is a suspenseful, intelligent and deep film that I liked a lot. It is not without flaws (the suspense atmosphere is sometimes overdone; not all acting is at Rosselini's level; not sure I concur with any implications regarding the education system), but these are relatively minor. 8.6/10 rounded up.
helpful•00
- lewianbra
- Jul 29, 2024
Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $1,928,823
- Runtime2 hours 16 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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