The Keys to the House

A love story. Or a friend story. Beautiful for the science to use the right tone about a delicate and painful problem. A touching portrait of parenthood. And its nuances. And its price. And its limits. After its end, the basic thing who remains, long time, alive in memory, is its special simplicity. Delicate, convincing, touching. Like a confession. With its lovely form of poetry of small, basic things. With the science to not be more than honest exposure of well known facts. For the flavor of personal story. And , not the last, as the expected film.

This movie could have been extremely heartwarming, considering the handicaps of the young boy and his struggles to be a functioning part of society, along with his relationship with his 'new' dad. I was expecting such tremendous emotion and drama, and the story left me with so many questions about the normalcy of it all. One thing that really disturbed me, and I'm suspecting this to be as a result of it being a foreign film, is that as cheesy as it sometimes may be, the film was sorely lacking background music. That missing element made the experience dry compared to what it could have been. The young boy playing Andrea was absolutely inspiring, though, and I found myself wondering how it must have been for him to memorize lines and follow directions in the making of this movie. Charlotte Rampling performed beautifully and convincingly. The father was just plain beautiful; I had a difficult time figuring out his character. My recommendation for this film is really 50-50.

This film is remarkable for doing what I would have considered completely impossible, namely featuring a young boy who is severely handicapped as the lead actor, and succeeding brilliantly. The boy is Andrea Rossi, and his performance is one of the great cinema performances of the decade. I don't know how this was possible. Even allowing for the obvious fact that the director, Gianni Amelio, is a man of unique sensitivity and even of genius, I do not know how such a handicapped boy could be such a super-star. It is totally astounding. Those of us who have known handicapped people realize how charming they can be in private. But the idea that a boy so seriously handicapped could totally dominate an entire feature film and be so up-front, and project his personality so powerfully, is absolutely incredible. This is some kind of magic hitherto unknown! Andrea Rossi is not only honest and direct, he is a communicator at a major level. He proves what fantastic talents lie buried deep within people suffering from certain handicaps, and which never emerge because no opportunity ever presents itself. Really, there are no words to express the astonishment and delight with which any honest person would greet the experience of this screen performance by a boy who can barely walk, can barely write, and is handicapped in so many ways (I have no idea of what his illness really is) that he could easily be dismissed by the thoughtless as being unable to participate in normal human society or indeed to have any worth or importance as an individual human being. Andrea Rossi has struck a blow for all handicapped people everywhere, by proving beyond any doubt that appearances can be deceptive, and that someone who looks hopelessly handicapped and barely able to communicate can in actuality be highly alert, intelligent, witty, sensitive, creative, innovative, self-deprecating, amusing, and loving. What an amazing fellow Andrea Rossi is! And he was only twelve years old when he made this film! As for the others in the film, there are spectacular performances also by Kim Rossi Stuart as the boy's father, and Charlotte Rampling as the mother of a more severely handicapped girl. The film is so emotional, so powerful, that you will rarely see anything more moving in your lifetime. The direction is perfect. Everything is perfectly judged and perfectly executed. The interviews with Rampling and Rossi Stuart on the DVD are important and should be watched. I had no idea what a profound thinker and intellectual Rampling is until I saw her talking to the camera about the meaning and significance of this film. She should write books on the philosophy of the cinema. But probably her performances are her philosophy, expressed directly, and aimed straight for the gut. How amazing this film is in every way!

Gianni (Kim Rossi Stuart) has never seen his son Paolo, who is disabled. But Fate makes them meet, Gianni accompanies him to Germany where the child can follow a new therapy... It is also a trip where the young father tries to catch up with the relationship with his son. In hospital Gianni meets a woman (Charlotte Rampling) who has a also a disabled daughter, a woman which teaches him very much about accepting differences.

Gianni Amelio doesn't direct a spectacular movie about handicap (it's not like "Rain Man"), he directs a road movie which seems sometimes (from a technical point of view) a documentary. There's not room for too many tears, dramas and moralistic considerations. It's a pretty film which has the goal of showing problems the way they are, without exaggerations. There's much reality and humanity.

I just saw this film, and since I don't like to talk about scenes in the film because I don't wish to spoil it for those who haven't seen it, I wanted to at least give my recommendation, and high praise for this piece. This is a film you have to see for yourself, the performances delivered are some of the best I have ever seen. It is so deeply moving and touching. My face was literally a faucet through the whole film, and I don't recall ever seeing and film that made that happen to me. As an actress myself, I can only hope to someday deliver performance such as the ones in this movie. There is so much said in this film without words, I was so deeply impressed. Needless to say, I give this 10 stars, and I heartily recommend it to everyone. *Note: It helps to have a box of Kleenex and a strong heart to watch this, also if you watch this and don't get "any" of it (for I know some may have trouble) you need to watch it again, because everything that needs to be said is there and more*