Saturno contro

I am puzzled by the tepid response to this film. My friends and I were fully engaged throughout, and completely satisfied at film's end. For me, art in any medium needs to be either 1) a transforming story or 2) so beautifully done that people are reminded anew of how amazing life is. This was a movie in the second category, a soufflé that needed a lot of elements to come together perfectly in order not to fail. And my friends and I found it perfect. The movie also needed to be well controlled to make up for the fact that everyone was so beautiful.

It was one of those "This happened, then this, then this" - and I bought it all. I had no idea where it was going but I didn't care because it was going to be satisfying.

On top of that, this was a movie I didn't have to translate at all. And on top of *that*, the characters possessed a grace of spirit that matched their considerable physical beauty. One scene, where the wife met the mistress, was a marvel. The director either picked people who had extraordinary brains and sensitivity, or else he's really good at getting a lot out of his actors.

My friends had many telling details we needed to lovingly examine. Perhaps the reviewers who found it disappointing are young, or Europeans who have seen a lot of movies like this one (I haven't); maybe they've seen these same actors a lot, or know too much about them from gossip magazines. Maybe they've not lost a charismatic friend or undergone experiences together with a close set of friends. There were moments in my life that I haven't seen represented on film before and here they were. I liked having those moments represented honestly but also idealized - and yes, you can do both things at the same time.

At least reviewer wondered what this movie was about. For me, this movie was many things: an astonishing display of ensemble acting; a set of character studies where each character seemed to have years of history shading every moment; a romanticized story about a kind of family not sufficiently represented on film; a story about people experiencing complex emotional states and not making a big deal about it.

And there were so many beautiful camera moments!

All in all, Mozart is a good reference point for this movie. So perfect that it breaks rules and still makes a good film.