Un viaggio chiamato amore

I saw this film last night. The scene's involving Sibilla Alaramo's youth were the best: her mother's madness and the brutal rape she was forced to endure at the hands of her future husband. Sibilla was, in Italy, a controversial novelist who challenged the paternalism of her day. That she had sexual relations with men other than her husband is something that Dino Campana cannot really forgive her for. His madness, though real, comes across as a bit self-indulgent. She seems the stronger, more depthful person: in love with a talented madman; having to survive as an independent women when this idea was frowned upon (it still is, to some extent).

The movie is about the ardent love story between the brilliant poet Dino Campana and the well known writer Sibilla Aleramo.

The Cultural background and atmosphere is the beginning of the 20th century with its revolutionary content relating sentimental life, human relationships, the new attitude of women and men, the refusal of the so called conformism and so on. And from this point of view I got the impression that the movie succeeded.

What I did not appreciate is the description of the development of the two main characters' love. As a matter of fact there is no description or explanation of what happened to Sibilla Aleramo's or Dino Campana's mind, heart, what where their reflections. You see the story of their strong love, but you do not understand the deep motivation of this passion, you feel you remain of the surface...

I think the movie could have been better.

It is hard to see a film, where everything is tragic, cruel and the director abuses of sex scenes. The argument could be interesting, even a real one, but the film only discharges suffering, unhappy facts, tough relationship between a man and a woman. Regarding sex scenes one may guess that the director wanted to show them to demonstrate the cruelty of the man, but not all in our lives is misery and misunderstanding. In any case, this film failed to balance the scenes and went in one direction.

Was it true love? God only knows. She loved him, very much. Crazy for love. He was really crazy, he did not strain that much. Dino and Sibilla, lovers of a century as soon as bloomed. A brilliant poet, Dino Campana and a writer of success, Sibilla Aleramo. The screen colors of a tenuous yellow small cuttlefish, dominates the shadows, only light splashes. And two great actors: Stefano Accorsi and Laura Morante.

The intense love story between the writer Sibilla Aleramo and the amazing poet Dino Campana: the social and psychological problems of the second one, but also his genius, make the story difficult, with continuous fights between the lovers, and with the effort of accepting the complexity of the world from a complex mind.

The movie in reality, is not a masterpiece: I think that some scenes are too full of pathos and this risks to reduce the good tension. But Campana Is a gigantic poet and so I think also that they are important film that talk about his life and art. Waiting for a better movie about him (and about Sibilla) we can watch this without too many expectations, and simply living an emotional, tragical, story between love and madness.