Respiro

This is the first film by Emanuele Crialese that has played locally, I think, or if any other has come in, it hasn't played commercially.

The film is beautifully done with the fantastic backdrop of the Italian island of Lampedusa. This is a very arid place with almost no vegetation at all. The heat, obviously, must be oppressive, as the sun punishes this land and its people constantly to the point that children act as savages, as proven by the opening scenes.

Among these rascals are Pasquale and Filippo, the sons of Grazia, the housewife at the center of the story. She lives in her own world. She is a rebel and a free soul. Grazia's actions are seen as madness by her husband Pietro and his mother, who lives next door. It is the classic family from forgotten towns such as this, where everyone knows everyone's business. The only solution for Grazia's problems is to send her away to a Milan institution that perhaps will turn her into a vegetable. Her only sin is to be different, therefore, she is the town's eccentric. All her neighbors think she's a lunatic.

By Grazia withdrawing from the world, she appears to be a maladjusted person, which she isn't. She just loves to be free; swimming is her passion and her life, running around the island in her scooter is another form of freedom from the realities of home. In trying to escape her lot in life, Grazia discovers how much her son Pasquale loves her. The final scenes after the disappearance with the search party on the beach are typical of the same society that condemned Grazia but never took steps to show her any kindness. The miracle that occurs at the end is that perhaps Pietro realizes that in spite of his wife's apparent madness he has found how much he really needs her.

This is a simple story told with a sure hand by the director, who also wrote the screen play.

Valeria Golino, who has spent a few years in minor roles in Hollywood, is very effective as Grazia. She shows a great range of emotions under the sure direction of Crialese. It is amazing no one has made anything worth of Ms. Golino's talent, or that she has been forgotten by the Italian cinema; or that no one has come to her with projects such as this film.

As her husband, Vincenzo Amato is very effective. Also, Francesco Casisa as Pasquale makes a splendid appearance. This young man with the proper guidance has the potential of making a big splash in the Italian cinema.

This movie is a good example of showing that it is possible to produce high quality films without spending too much. The scenario is very well written and characters are well chosen. Every single person fits their role very well that I couldn't help thinking that such a village really exists. Especially Grazia and her younger son are acting very well. The younger son is so natural and has great talent. As for the Grazia, she is showing the character of a caring and sometimes crazy mother with her gestures and talks. The landscape in the film makes you feel like going holiday in the Mediterranean. The sea, sky and the landscape are absolutely beautiful. After seeing this film, I have realized that the rural lives by the sea in many countries are similar, the differences are in the languages, but the feelings are same.

If you are religious, if you believe in miracles, if you believe that religion has nothing to do with miracles, if you HATE religion, if you are Catholic, if you are Roman Catholic, if you grew up in such a home, if you despise the hypocrisy of it all, you should see this movie. If you are Italian, if you speak Italian, if you are planning to travel to Italy, if you like Italian food, if you are learning Italian, if you even know anyone who is Italian you need to see this movie. If you've been affected by a psychological disorder, if you have a psychological disorder, if you are a psychologist, if you have a psychologist. If you have a mother. If you've seen Big Top Pee-Wee and thought "Gina" was hot. See Respiro.

I saw this movie in a small theatre and could tell who the aforementioned italomaniacs were in the crowd by the eruptions of laughter that would occur before the (occasionally poorly translated) subtitles appeared. The friend I went to see this with was wont to turn to me at choice moments during the film and inquire as to "WHAT IS IT WITH YOU PEOPLE?!" Charming, warm. Absolutely beautiful location. Vibrant characters. Simplistic filming. Multi-faceted story, bringing together a family and a community and managing to tell several stories at once, I can't find anything bad to say about this movie.

Emanuele Crialese's `Respiro' reminds me of Woody Allen's film, `Hollywood Ending', where a movie director makes a movie so bad, only the French would love it. While Allen's film is fictional, the French still gave "Respiro" the Critic's Week Prize at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. I bet Woody had a chuckle over this one.

The basis for the movie, `Respiro', comes from a legend told on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, where a young mother who behaved outside the rules of the small community, was thought to be insane, and thus ostracized by the townspeople. One day, she disappeared, leaving only her clothes on the beach. The community was left feeling guilty for having driven the woman to suicide, but the force of prayers brought her back to life from the sea, where she returned to normal life with her family.

The main problems with `Respiro' the film, are two-fold: first, the mother, played by Valeria Golino (whose film debut was along side Tom Cruise in `Rain Man'), seemed incongruent to the intent of the legend, which intended to portray the woman as simply out of line with social norms. In the film, however, she is actually psychiatrically ill. This critical point changes our perception of the townspeople's attempt to help her – rather than they're seeming conformist and unjust in their attempts to help her, they actually seemed genuine and authentic. This very fact discredits almost the entire point of the film. The only left to keep it together are the character portrayals themselves. But here, the director fails again, but much like the way Allen satirized in his film, `Hollywood Ending': it's a case of the Emperor's New Clothes: none of the main characters have any depth or meaning (aside from one of the mother's young sons), but the director tells you they do, so those who awarded this film the Critic's Week Prize, seemed to see something that just wasn't there.

Other problems with the film make it even less interesting, and by consequence, even more pretentious: The director intended to keep dialog extremely brief, but failed to replace their communication with anything else to portray character, mood, or even a sense of purpose. It seemed to be a series of scenes that were intended to be interpreted as `artful' in their abstraction and symbolism, but the director just assumed the audience would accept it because he told us to.

The closest thing to compare this movie with would be `Il Postino', the Italian film about the romantic postman who writes love poems to a woman to win her love. That film had all of the features that `Respiro' attempted, but Postino had warm and interesting characters, a meaningful and motivated plotline, and didn't mind portraying a cute Italian island for the beautifully romantic place that it is.

In the end, `Respiro' didn't move me at all, but if it's going to win film awards at Cannes, I'll give the credit more to Woody Allen, who seems to have an insight into those who think they know what a good artsy film is all about.

This is really and simply a wonderful film. I saw it by accident, so it took me by surprise. The film is like other (very good) Italian films in that it features a simple story, wonderful characters, lots of 'couleur locale', and very good actors. And then add some very nice shots and a superb location.

If I was reading this, I would start to fear for a film that gets lost in its niceness and remains too light. But not Respiro (or Lampedusa, after the island it was filmed at). Already in the opening scenes it is made clear that there is a lot of violence and suspense in the air. Not that there is any blood to be seen in this film. There is a lot of fighting between groups of young boys and the adults defend their honor with physical violence, but things never get really mean.

Between the beauty of the island and the harshness of existence on it walks, no, floats, one woman named Grazia. The camera loves her, her sons love her, and even the other islanders love her. But she too different, too non-conforming to be tolerated in the long run.

In an interesting twist, it is not Grazia but her son Pasquale who is the story teller in this film. We see things through his eyes and it is only through him that we get to know his wonderful but mysterious mother. Like the rest of the village, Pasquale is torn between convention and love for her. With him being a 13 (or so) year old in a very traditional family, it is totally believable that we see Pasquale commanding his mother to not swim in the sea in one scene, and adoringly follow her in the next.

And this sums up the film for me: A simple but beautiful story, with an undercurrent of critique or bewilderment at the traditional family style and its low tolerance for being different; a very positive outlook and a love for life, which is shared by all and reflected in the end of the movie; and beautiful and sometimes magical atmosphere which is the most difficult thing ever to create in a movie.

Go see this movie!

PS I you like this movie, consider seeing Blier's "Un, deux, trois, soleil" which is so obscure that I wanted to mention it here.