Respiro

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 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.

In a small Italian fishing village, the community is very close knit and gossip starts easily about anyone who upsets the status quo. So it is that the free-spirited ways of Grazia make her stand out from the other women in the village who are married to the fishermen and keep their children. As she continues to set tongues wagging and frustrating her husband as a result, Pietro starts to think that perhaps the time is right for her to see a specialist to treat her and, if necessary, section her. Getting wind of her fate, Grazia heads off and is taken to a hiding place by her son Pasquale in the rocks above the beach.

Those looking for a plot that is as strong as I have suggested would do well to just watch the final 30 minutes of this film because it is only then that this storyline is brought out. When it does eventually come, it is interesting and it builds on the things that have been done in the first hour in regards subtexts and relationship dynamics but I have to mention the fact that, for many viewers, the first hour does have the potential to drag and seem irrelevant. To some extent I did fall into this camp, because I thought that the subtexts had been well enough developed before the hour mark and that this aspect could have been worked into a story better. However it still manages to set up the downside of small village life – a world where women are seen as lesser (even little brothers boss around older sisters), men are the all and even minor things can spark off gossip and rumours; it is a place that flies in stark contrast to the beautiful scenery and idyllic setting that the director shows us. This presentation does establish the final third well and, although it does need some patience, it does work very well.

It may be used as a contrast with the people but the direction is very impressive in terms of use of scenery and the framing of shots; it is very beautiful at times and it does help to highlight the disparity between the setting and the society. Golino is pretty good in the lead role – pretty and free enough to convince as a character but perhaps a bit too young looking to have had so many kids of such ages; she does look a bit like a movie producer's idea of what an Italian mother of three looks like. Casisa is good but he seems to have brought out a strange semi-sexual chemistry with Golino; if this was deliberate then it I'm not sure why, maybe I was just seeing something that wasn't there. Amato is effective as the husband – he seems to be frustrated not by his wife but by what others see in his wife; in this regard he fits the bill perfectly.

Overall this is an enjoyable film but it is not perfect and viewers should be prepared for the fact that the "plot" comes out almost reluctantly in the final third of the movie. Up till this time we have a thematic exploration of village life that is interesting but does require a bit of forgiving patience because it could easily have been done in less time or interwoven with a tighter story.

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.

In Emanuele Crialese's lyrical drama Respiro, the sky is gorgeous. The sea is gorgeous. The harsh landscape is gorgeous. The children, even when they are behaving like little monsters, are gorgeous. The lead actress is gorgeous. There is so much obvious and intentional gorgeousness about this picture that we have to dig far down, past the scene painting, to find the story.

Although subtitled Grazia's island (Grazia is the lead role, magnificently realised by Valeria Golino), Respiro could have well been called "Scenes from rural Sicilian life", as the scenography, cinematography and tableaux-like imagery seem as important to the director as her thin narrative line. Respiro's locale is Lampedusa, a tiny island far off the west coast of Sicily. About the same latitude as Malta, this place is about as remote as it gets - Tunis is closer than Palermo. It can be safe to say that Italian time here has pretty much stood still for decades; this is Italy of de Sica and Mascagni, not Fellini and Prada. The men go out to sea, the children play, women pack fish, old black-clad crones meddle and the languid summer air of total boredom hangs down from the cloudless sky.

The story is fairly typical, the type that a few great (and many, many average) Italian filmmakers have been serving up for the last three generations - life in the sun drenched rural, ritualistic and tribal south and the saga of one village denizen who dares to break the moulds. How long since Cinema Paradiso?

Grazia (incidentally, the name means "grace" - get it?) is a loving, rebellious humanist - she loves her children, she loves music, she loves swimming in her panties, she loves the Vespa-propelled wind in her hair and loathes the suffering of any living creature. She does not love to cook, or put on rubber wellies and plastic smock to pack sardines. This high-spirited recklessness is just a bit too much for this dusty place and she is duly deemed mad. Golino, who acts in four languages and has had decent parts in Leaving Las Vegas, Immortal Beloved and Frida, is a joy to watch. There is not a moment forced or unnatural about her performance and this is saying a fair bit, considering her several mad scenes. She conveys brilliantly the purgatory of a loving woman who wants more, but knows neither what it is nor how to get it.

After two incidents (one just a bit lusty, the other bordering on a bit off) it is decided by the meddling crones and village busybodies to send Grazia off to a sanatorium in Milan, which might as well be Mars. She will have no part of this and her 13-year-old son hides her in a secluded cave. Her ensuing escape, seclusion and discovery offer us some more gorgeous imagery and displays the motherly bonding quite well. Yes, the imagery does go a bit down the obvious, biblical, redemptive female roads, but it well handled. Water, which has played quite a large role in the director's concept, stars in a few more scenes. It also features in the film's ending, which is spiritual, gorgeous and inconclusive in the same breadth. Love and human devotion may win, but this gal is not going to be packing sardines for much longer!

The movie, considering the almost rudimentary story line, is incredibly rich. The smallest characters are well defined and there is wonderful juxtaposition between formal Italian and the coarse regional dialect. Much of the cast is so natural you could believe them to be locals. The essence of life in such a village is well captured and the relationships within a family are well explored as well. And there is enough of the magical landscape of the place to make you want to board the next Alitalia jet. For a visit, that is.