Sous le ciel de Sicile

The Italian singer and composer debuts as a director, and a good film this is. In the first and probably best half of the movie, we are in the Fifties in Sicily, and Ettore is a young child who lives surrounded by women and seems to be always surprised of what happens around him; it's Sicily told much, much better than Tornatore ever did, seen through the innocent eyes of Ettore. His eyes are not so innocent anymore when we find him some years later, ready to leave his isle, and finally he is in Milan, where he knows some of the most interesting people in town, both in the literature and the music field. Battiato did also a good job with the actors, in particular with Ettore as a child, while Donatella Finocchiaro is not a surprise anymore, after her equally excellent work in "Angela".

Battiato seems terrific familiar with a medium you would think he's not familiar with such as Cinema. "Perduto Amore" is not a musical but music means a lot to this film. I'm not speaking of music as the traditional accompanying part of the soundtrack (which in this film is fulfilled in a very sober way)but of music as a subject matter and symbol of the sublime. In the same way play a very relevant role philosophy, magic and beauty (in several social forms such as aristocracy, music and art scene, not-yet-emancipated-women-of-low-classes, who already find a way to a responsible and conscious life in their daily things, and just simple events). The main character's perspective leads most of the time but sometimes the perspective shifts to the audience's. The screen shows the impossible geography of a dream (which is the whole film- and life as an off-voice says at the very beginning of the film). Language is almost as relevant as music and the function of the figure's voices is if not realistic surely thought provoking and clearly one of Battiato's greatest achievements. "Perduto amore" is a great pleasure for the eyes (light and impossible geography)and for the ears (music and language). I think, this film proves that art is more than the simply mastery of the medium.