simon-bensasson

I think I'll maintain a neutral stance on this one. It may be good, or it may be bad, but listening to Italians speaking in English in Italy makes the whole thing more of a pastiche than it really is. My review really stops here but as only a minimum of ten lines qualifies as a review, here is some waffle which you may ignore if you choose to. If you read the book already you may be disappointed. If you haven't, and really feel that you need to know what the secret of Santa Vitoria is you have the choice of either reading the book which is enjoyable but takes a longer time, or seeing the film, especially if you are the kind of person that doesn't like subtitles and don't mind listening to Italian peasants, all with a gift for foreign languages.

The problem of marriages going stale, and more, is addressed by many films, and novels. In most it is addressed indirectly: There is a story and the staleness of the marriage is an element of it. The story gives the problem a context and the problem adds depth to the story. "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf", "The Hours" each includes a different aspect of the same problem each with totally different manifestations.

This is not the case in this film. The problem is addressed head-on and every aspect of life around it disappears. There is no subtlety, no ambiguity, no tension - all is obvious, self-evident. The removal of all context makes the focus on the problem itself more dramatic, in the sense that nothing else seems to exist for the protagonists of the story. The end result is a film anatomical in nature - as anatomical as watching your belly-button can be. Worse, it appears essentially didactic and in this sense it would be insulting if it were not devastatingly boring. I gave it four stars because the two leading actors make a really brave and convincing effort to appear real, though to what purpose I am not really sure.

I finished watching this film two hours ago and the punch in the stomach I received watching it still hurts. I don't recall having received such a punch in my 60 or so years of film watching. Unlike films such as "Schindler's List" or "Empire of the Sun", this film does not take sides. It's like a candid camera operated by an invisible grand master hidden in the crowd or the rubble. It's just there recording events. As a result, despite the fact that it focuses on the big picture, the individual is not lost: Both the Chinese and the Japanese, each and every one of them, in huge crowds are real believable characters. This gives the viewer a grand and horrible sense of presence which is what makes it so painful. It would take courage to watch it again.