No te muevas

Watching this movie I couldn't stop thinking of a great Italian novel, "Un amore" (probably translated in English as "A love") by Dino Buzzati. Both treat the subject of an impossible love, but Buzzati's is much more concrete and much better. "Non ti muovere" lacks psychological insight, the characters seem too void, the relationships between them don't have that something that would make them seem real.It's very possible that one simply doesn't get it. This could and should have been an interesting depiction of a middle-age crisis, of a person who just doesn't fit in the picture that it's his life, but instead it's a seemingly meaningless love story, with an unaesthetic Penelope Cruz, who, unfortunately for her is no great actress.

In Australia we are fortunate to have 3 or 4 festivals each year showcasing the latest films from France, Germany, Greece and Italy. "Don't look Now" is screening as part of the Italian one

Sergio Castellitto is quite well known here, perhaps mainly for his lead role in "Mostly Martha" where he shone. He brings a great presence to the screen although his character here is darker than the outgoing Italian chef in Martha.

"Don't Look Now" is a riveting story of a surgeon sitting in the waiting room of a hospital where he works with his 15 yo daughter and only child seriously injured fighting for her life in the operating room. Whilst waiting he recounts the crucial moments in his life and mainly his sordid and violent (his) relationship with Cruz, a derelict young woman and the interplay and very much parallel life with his wife, a successful journalist played by Claudia Gerini who looks very much like an Italian Diane Lane.. beautiful hair, classical looks.

The contrast between his married homelife and Cruz situation is black and white. His house overlooks a beautiful beach, Cruz's is in a dusty hellhole in the middle of a construction site.

This film makes perfect use of flashbacks something I normally detest particularly ones that move in reverse order like Momento or the French Film "Irreversible"

The rape scene between Cruz and Castellitto is much briefer than that in "Irreversible" but just as uncomfortable to watch.

I couldn't quite work out the attraction between Cruz's and Castellitto's characters as there was no gentleness in his approach at first (it was rape) but somehow he falls in love with her.

But there is a lot to enjoy here and a lot to think about afterwards. It is the sort of movie that you should see once and could see a number of times to get all the angles.

For Cruz this could perhaps be compared to Halle Berry's performance in Monsters Ball or Charlene Theron's in Monster. But unlike these other two films, Cruz's character is only one of the 3 or 4 varied relationships Castellitto's character has in the film. These relationships and how they interplay is why it is such an interesting movie.

A couple of days ago I watched NON TI MUOVERE on its opening night.

Well, I think that it's a true masterpiece ... gripping, heartfelt, as kudos-deserving as the best-selling novel of the same title upon which it's based, written by Margaret Mazzantini (here she is the co-screenwriter and also appears in a glimpse-like wordless cameo, at the end of the movie), winner of the Strega - one of Italy's main literary prizes - in the year 2002.

The director and male lead Sergio Castellitto - who plays the cowardly ambiguous surgeon Timoteo - is as immense as always. He's also the other co-screenwriter of the movie. He's - above all - author Margaret Mazzantini's husband of many years. His was clearly a true labor of love.

Penélope Cruz is astounding, realistic and yet heartbreaking, enormously moving, totally disappearing into her character, who's a poor, destitute, cheaply dressed and unkempt woman named Italia. She cleans hotel rooms for a living and lives herself in a slum, but has got the purest and noblest of souls ("She's a toad in a miniskirt who teaches the Prince how to love", in actor-director Castellitto's own words).

Comedy actress Claudia Gerini - in her first highly dramatic role as the guy's betrayed wife - is very, very good herself.

Last but not least, the Castellitto-Cruz chemistry is amazingly powerful: much more so, say, than the Cruise-Cruz one in Vanilla Sky, enough said ...!

I cried my eyes out, even though I had read the novel more than once, therefore perfectly knowing the story!

HERE is a movie which I definitely want to watch multiple times.

As for myself, well, after two days I'm still re-living all the marvelous, emotionally intense moments which I enjoyed while watching this movie.

Really nothing in Penélope Cruz's resume will prepare you to what she does here, not even what I think was her best performance before this movie, i.e. Sister Rosa in Pedro Almodovar's ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER ... nothing indeed! Not to mention that she acts here in Italian language, and she commands it perfectly.

Just to get an idea of her greatness in this movie, here are actor-director Sergio Castellitto's words at the press conference for the movie, which took place in Rome on March 9th:

"Penélope is heartbreaking, she's as great as [Federico Fellini's wife] Giulietta Masina [in the movie La Strada], what she did for this movie is amazing: a lesson of humbleness, passion and courage. But beware! Her act of courage is NOT the fact that she became ugly, this is a silly thing which you use to read everywhere, but it's wrong; to become ugly for a movie, for an actress like her, who then comes back to her natural beauty, is actually a privilege. Her act of courage, instead, was how she succeeded in building her character's misery: she got on this horse and she did ride on it, without any radar equipment, with a total faith, asking just for one thing: 'I want to act with my own voice, at any cost'. And since I'm an actor myself, I just take a bow in front of a person who tells me: 'nobody will touch my own voice'. Anyway, did you hear her? Did you hear how good she is? She gave a true diction lesson to so many, many Italian actresses ".

And what about Sergio Castellitto himself? This extremely charming and intelligent man has been an acting God for more than twenty years here in Italy; he's an uncanny mix of subdued and brainy acting, total sincerity, powerful emotions in display, instant ability to deeply inhabit any character ... and despite his 50 years of age (he's 20 years older than Penélope), they are absolutely MORE than believable as a mismatched couple of lovers who're overwhelmed and bewildered by a passion which they can't explain, not even to themselves. Like I said above, they share a burning-hot chemistry, which is not only a sexual one but a sentimental one as well.

Moreover, I honestly think that I had never seen in ages such a faithful literary screen adaptation: the novel blends into the movie and vice versa. The one takes new life and new breath from the other.

The opening sequence in the rain, shot from a great height (I'd say that's the same technique of the opening scene in Vanilla Sky), is stunning ... and from there on, the movie flows easily, always vividly and painfully alive, with no lazy moment, at no slow pace, even though it mainly relies upon a subtle psychological analysis of the characters, with those glances, those conversations, those all-important small gestures, those confrontations, those deep feelings in display ...

I hope that this movie will be adequately distributed in the U.S. also. All those involved in it truly deserve to get a wide recognition for their excellent work.

Emotionally intense movie handled unflinchingly by lead actor Castellitto. This immersive character study into an unfulfilled doctor's love affair is a tad too lengthy and perhaps the director indulges in his on screen action a little too much, but the dedication that the two ill-fated lovers give to portraying the rawness of their emotions and instincts will, despite once in a while misfiring, leave few viewers unfazed. Penelope Cruz is great as the counterpoint, and deserves much respect for assuming such a demanding, unglamorous role at this point in her well established career. Obviously it is the love of acting that propels her(no comparison to her English jobs), as this mildly received Italian film must have been several notches down from her draw, but when you see the psychologically harrowing sex scenes (not always for the sex, but for the right before and right after) you realize why someone would be interested in such intimate work. As the film slightly overextends itself to reach it's climax which sort of dumbs down it's poignant theme, the performances and overall taste left are nonetheless real and life affirming despite all of it's muddied ramifications.

Note: Penélope Cruz' character Italia is, if at all comparable to Federico Fellinis work the legitimate continuation of Giulietta Masina's character Cabiria from "Le Notti di Cabiria", not Gelsomina from "La Strada".

Having said this I will briefly add this comment to mention that "Non ti muovere" is one of the two best films I have seen so far.

So another comment in favor of Castellito's amazing piece work.

Make up your own mind. In response to some of the other comments that suggest this is a study in S&M or that many viewers might consider this film "High Art", I say it's neither. It is basically a powerful love-story/soap opera that is beautifully directed, acted and edited and will either leave you cold and furious or emphatic and happy, depending on your sensibility. It's about finding life and in doing so finding something to believe in.

A doctor who has become the world's biggest pragmatist finally encounters a woman who takes away everything he once thought mattered.

It's Italian melodrama in its purest form. For some people this can be very effective, for others purely wasteful. There's nothing in between. But aren't these the movies usually worth seeing the most?