Un coming-of-age novel with thriller tones, but also a story about being girls, and then women. These are some of the elements of Free bodya new series set in the world of artistic gymnastics broadcast from tonight at 9.20pm on Rai 2. Directed by Cosima Spender and Valerio Bonelliit is treated from the novel of the same name by Ilaria Bernardini. The cast includes Antonia Truppo, Barbara Chichiarelli and Filippo Nigro.
Free bodythe plot of the series
«None of us could have imagined that our lives would be changed forever». The trailer for the series opens like this, with Martina Del Bianco (Alessia De Falco) who gives voice to her thoughts. She is 15 years old, and is a gymnast of Vis Invicta. Considered a promising young woman, she was the victim of a dark accident and seems to have lost all her determination. She is not particularly talkative and suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. Nonetheless he represents Italy in the Winter Fox tournament.
Carla Castoldi is on the team with her (Giada Savi), Nadia Lettieri (Federica Cuomo), Anna Iovine (Giada Pirozzi) e Benedetta Palazzi (Eva Iurlaro). Carla, queen of the strong and manipulative group, lives in symbiosis with Nadia, a self-destructive girl who is dominated by Carla almost to the point of her devotion. Anna and Benedetta – the first bulimic, the second very insecure – they are the least skilled. And therefore bullied by Carla and Nadia, who they nicknamed “The useless ones”.
All five find themselves in a hotel in the mountains to participate in the tournament. They face four other teams to qualify for the next Olympics. There is with them Rachele Riace (Antonia Truppo), their coach. That she, frustrated by failures and childless, pours out her desire for motherhood on athletes (and calms her nerves with alcohol and drugs). The hotel stay takes an unexpected turn when the body of a girl is found in the surrounding woods. Investigations are started and little by little the lies and secrets of the girls, as well as the adults, emerge.
Alessia De Falco plays Martina Del Bianco. (Indigo film)
That free body that is not free
Free body tells of a murder set in the world of artistic gymnastics, but above all it talks about the female body which – in discipline – is never truly free. In fact, as in classical dance, here too the main enemy is the change in physique, which imposes a race against time for maximum glory. A system ruthless in which, behind the suppleness of the movements, psychological abuse, deception and careerism are hidden.
The plans of the series are therefore multiple. The two main ones, however, are the Bildungsroman – with the girls followed as they grow up while pthey plow Rachele’s shots – and the thriller – with Marina’s interrogation.
It is she who tells the shadows of that world, who is entrusted with the task of revealing the distortion of reality that occurs among the gymnasts. A testimony that is a Pandora’s box thanks to which a submerged and murky world comes to light. He recounts the training sessions, the preparation for the races, outlining a frightening context. The portrait of a passion that can transform into anxiety, fear, pressure, terror. Negative emotions that mark forever.
Filippo Nigro plays Alex Borrelli. (Indigo Film)
Also in the cast are Barbara Chichiarelli and Filippo Nigro
Barbara Chichiarelli plays Elena Pace, the inspector who tries to shed light on the murder. «Free body it’s a thriller fairy tale that talks about artistic gymnastics, but also about adolescence, passions, competitive spirit, obsessions”, he says on Instagram. «It catapults us into a world unknown to mostwhich is that of artistic gymnasticsof professionalism, but not only. It gives us a three-dimensional look at what adolescence is, especially that experienced by women.”
«I think it’s an important series for both kids and their parents», he continues. «It’s a transversal series, because each of us has gone through that period in our lives and he knows very well that the transition to adulthood is one of the most complicated.”
Filippo Nigro plays the sports doctor Alex Borrelli, who lives in close contact with the girls and knows what it means to not feel comfortable. It is a story, in fact, that also talks about “how bodies are treated and managed”. «The most interesting theme is the loss of the state of grace that one has at that age and the transition to adult lifewhich becomes problematic,” he explains.
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