LThe life of a gentle bookseller is turned upside down by a bubbly theater actress (Bérénice Bejo). It is the subject of The emotional materialfilms by (and with) Sergio Castellitto on first TV on Rai 3 tonight at 9.20pm on Rai 3.
The emotional materialthe plot of the movie
Vincenzo (Castellitto) is a bookseller from Paris who spends his days closed in his shop living out of this world. Also daughter Albertine (Matilda De Angelis) is holed up at home – closed in selective mutism since an accident, perhaps not so coincidental, has confined to a wheelchair.
Around their microcosm, some bizarre characters gravitate: a young priest, a bum with a heart of goldthe kleptomaniac Clemente (the rapper Clementino) and an elegant lady (Sandra Milo). One day though, the theater actress Yolande (Bérénice Bejo) bursts into the man’s quiet life like a tsunami. Bewitched by the beauty and vitality of women, Vincenzo comes out of his existential lethargy. And rediscovers emotions buried for decades.
Sergio Castellitto and Bérénice Bejo in a scene from “The Emotional Material”. (01 Distribution)
A film halfway between theater and cinema
The never-made story by Ettore Scola, A cloud-shaped dragon – written with his daughter Silvia and Furio Scarpelli – was transformed into a screenplay by Margaret Mazzantini, wife of Sergio. The result is one an original story and romantic which, as often happened in Scola’s cinema, mixes theater and cinema: the film – spoken almost entirely in French – opens and closes with a curtain.
A further element of “fiction” is then given by an entirely Paris rebuilt in Cinecittà. And all these elements of magic, vernacularism and false perspectives, in the end, they imprison history in its own décorin the game of literary quotes and references to transalpine culture.
The only breaking element” is represented by the character embodied by Bérénice Bejo, a vital and overwhelming woman like many heroines of Castellitto’s previous films. From Penelope Cruz by Do not move to Jasmine Trinca in Lucky. Female uncanny that they give vitality to a cinemathat of the Roman actor, often too much caged by an excessive literary approach.
Bérénice Bejo and the strong bond with Italy
Born in Argentina in 1976, the French naturalized actress has become famous throughout the world, after a long apprenticeship, thanks to The Artist. Silent film, and in black and white, released in 2011 and directed by her husband Michel Hazanavicius And winner of 5 Oscar awards.
Bérénice Bejo in a scene from “The Artist”. (Rcs archive)
An exploit that leads it to be in great demand, both in Europe and in the United States. After the victory in Cannes for the best female performance in the film The past by Asghar Farhadi, Bérénice begins also work for prestigious Italian directors.
The first is Marco Bellocchiowhich in Make beautiful dreams of 2016 he entrusts her with the role of the sweet doctor Elisa. Then comes 2021 The emotional materialfollowed by The hummingbird by Francesca Archibugifilmed together with Pierfrancesco Favino and Kasia Smutniak. Next year we will see her protagonist of another Italian set, that of the Sicilian Piero Messina for the film Another End.
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