Music from the 17th and 18th centuries, from 'Farinelli' to 'Amadeus', from 'The King Is Dancing ' to 'All the Mornings of the World ', has given rise to a wealth of important works, wonderful to watch, to listen to and to reflect on. 'Primavera' is no exception to this rule, who would complain? Masterfully directed by Damiano Michieletto (better known as an opera stage director), the film, both sumptuous and austere, is a faithful adaptation of Tiziano Scarpa's novel 'Stabat Mater', in which violinist and composer Antonio Vivaldi is the lead male character, but only second to the main protagonist, Cecilia, a sixteen-year-old orphan and musician, for whom the 'red-haired priest' becomes both a mentor and a foil.
The story begins in 1716, at the time Vivaldi is appointed music director at the Venice Ospedale della Pietà. His manners are blunt and he does not please everybody in the board but he will assuredly bring new life to how the music is played and sung in this place, reputable but losing momentum. As for Cecilia, an exceedingly sensitive young lady, she is most unhappy with her life: not only does she feel a deep sense of abandonment (her mother left her at the orphanage as a baby and never contacted her again) she also resents the confinement she is forced to live in (kept away from the outside world like her girl companions, she knows very, very little of the world as it is, beyond the convent walls). Which does not prevent her from being an excellent violinist and accordingly deriving pleasure from playing music. Naturally, such a talent can't escape the attention of Maestro Vivaldi, who soon makes her the first violin in his orchestra of female orphans. From then on, a special and fruitful - if sometimes stormy - relationship develops between them, with many ups and downs.
Daniele Milichietto does a very good job of his basic material. To begin with, 'Primavera' is an accomplished period drama, (the picturesque city of Venice, the costumes, the colors, the candlelit scenes on par with 'Barry Lyndon'). But it is far more than just that. The film also shows us, poorly concealed behind this glittering facade, all the injustice and cruelty of society at that time (which by the way echoes certain aspects of today's society): the unequal distribution of wealth and power, the plight of women, the lack of recognition for artists, etc. The film therefore takes a real stance, which gives it a lot of depth and intensity. Nor does it shy away from the complex relationship between the composer and his musician:the film therefore takes a real stance, which gives it a lot of depth and intensity. Nor does it shy away from the complex relationship between the composer and his musician: Cecilia (perfectly embodied by the graceful beginner Tecla Insolia) and Vivaldi (Michele Riondino, her more seasoned partner) respect and admire but also misunderstand each other and clash, without the viewer ever being able of guessing anything. To be sure, there is nothing conventional about their characters. Even the mother superior, whose character we think we understand at the beginning, turns out to be more complex than expected.
Given the bulk of his career, Daniele Michietto could have been content to film a well-known opera beautifully and with high-quality sound. Instead, he chose a multi-layered work of art to which he lent a lot of personality. One scene illustrates this point more than any other: the grotesque game of hide-and-seek in the entourage of the King of Denmark. Filmed in a hallucinatory manner, it would not have been out of place in a Ken Russell film.
A beautiful film that successfully combines form and substance, 'Primavera', for all the reasons stated above, is not to be missed.
