THEand first images of Dusethe new film by Pietro Marcelloleave no room for doubt: we are not in front of a simple biopic. The film, which will be presented in Competition at the 82nd Venice Film Festival and outgoing in Italian cinemas the September 18thrather proposes itself as an intimate and visual investigation on the figure of Eleonora Duseinterpreted by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi in one of the densest tests of his career.
The face that stands out in the official poster – open eyes and face furrowed by tears – already suggests the emotional direction of the film: fragility as a living matter. There is no celebratory intent, there is no hagiographic halo that often accompanies the portraits of the great artistic personalities. There is, however, the attempt to tell a woman, not a monument.
Dusethe need to return to the scene
The film is set in Italy marked by the end of the Great War and the first signs of the fascist ascent. In this climate of transformation, Eleonora Duse, now far from the glories of youth, decides to return to the scene. But the return does not arise from nostalgia or ambition. It is a necessary gesture, an inner urgency. Theater becomes the space through which to reaffirm a presence that the world would like to archive. The tired body, the subtle voice, the worn down affects: everything contributes to defining a human figure that does not bend to inertia.
Art as a silent struggle
Pietro Marcello, already author of Martin Edenavoid the reassuring path of philological reconstruction. His gaze is, as always, analog, material, personal. Duse And a Film that mixes history and inventiondocuments and dreams, making art itself the battlefield. In the heart of the story there is a conflict: Loyalty to oneself against the disenchantment of time. The Duse we see does not defend itself from forfeiture, does not denote it. It crosses her, strong of that aura that gave her the nickname of “Divine”.
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi as Eleonora Duse
The test of Valeria Bruni Tedeschi It’s all played in subtraction. There is no imitation or caricature. There is a body that brings life on you, there is a look that is asked. In his eyes, tiredness, lucidity, and that ‘obstinate love for an art that consoles but does not save. Marcello builds them around a space made of silences, tremors, slowness. And in that last ascent on stage, perhaps, there is The most difficult question: “What remains of beauty, when the world trembles?”
The cast of Duse
Duse It is written by Russian Letizia, Guido Silei And from Pietro Marcello himself. Next to Bruni Tedeschi, a solid and refined cast: Noémie Merlant, Fausto Russo Alesi, Noémie Lvovsky, Vincenzo Pirrotta. The photograph is signed by Marco Graziaplena. More than a historical film, Duse It is a work on time, on the body, on the voice. On the price of consistency. Pietro Marcello does not sculpt an icon, but tells a woman who, despite everything, continues to look for a sense.
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