Respiro
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Movie Reviews of Respiro
Movie Review: Just 'Breathe' in the Joy of this Special Tale
Summary: 5 Stars
RESPIRO is one of those Italian treasures of a film, this time written and directed by the insightful Emanuele Crialese, that isolates humanity in a place where all the joys and foibles of living become cogently the entire point of the story. RESPIRO mixes the gut-level Italian response to life with the surreal flights of fancy made famous by Fellini.
Lampedusa is a Mediterranean island between Sicily and Tunisia that is baked by the sun and is far enough away form the culture of Italy to be a return to the native. The population is all involved in fishing. On this picturesque island lives Grazia (the beautiful and talented Valeria Golina) who appears to be a wonderfully free spirit but is actually a bipolar personality. She lives happily with her fisherman husband Pietro and her children: teenage Marinella (Veronica D'Agostini), Pasquale (Frncesco Casisa - a very fine little actor!) and Filippo (Filippo Pucillo). The boys adore their mother and their father and often make excuses for their mother's wild behavior patterns to the villagers who view her as a menace.
When Grazia's actions come under scrutiny by Pietro and he considers the advice of the grandmother (Muzzi Loffredo) who occasionally gives Grazia tranquilizing injections when her manic side surfaces and suggests Grazia needs psychiatric help in Milan, Grazia runs away to hide in a grotto, her whereabouts are known only to Pasquale.
The little village mentality merges and the people search the waters for what they feel must be the death of Grazia, only to discover on St Bartolo's Day that Grazia is blithely swimming in the ocean. How this affects the village and the lives of this tender family is the secret of the movie: revealing the ending would dissipate the joy of RESPIRO. Suffice it to say that the closing footage will simply take your breath away!
This little treasure of a movie has some of the most imaginative photography - both above and below the surface of the surrounding ocean - of any film you'll see. The music by John Surman is pitch perfect and atmospheric. The way director Crialese captures the folklore-like behavior of the youngsters' games, and the married-to-the-sea philosophy of the villagers, is utterly magical. This is a movie that celebrates those raw emotions of being human that seem to be eroding into the cultural pablum of contemporary society. RESPIRO is a glowing reminder of the worth of a return to Eden. In Italian with English subtitles. Grady Harp, November 2004
Movie Review: Magnificient Italians in a magnificent film
Summary: 5 Stars
This beautiful film impacted me at a very physical level. The beauty of the sun baked island of Lampedusa in the turquoise Mediterranean Sea is stunning and elicits images of antiquity. The actors are almost angelic in their beauty. The life of the family and villagers is primal and native, simple and sometimes harsh. There are multiple issues that could be discussed about this film. I will discuss three below:
First, the mother in this story, Grazia, is a functioning manic-depressive who is wild and delightful in her manic stages. Yet, she frightens the town's other residents and she is an embarrassment to her husband, mother-in-law, daughter, and two sons. The overt, primary story line revolves around this woman and the struggle her family endures trying to get her into psychiatric treatment in Milan and then dealing with her mysterious disappearance.
Second, the story explores machismo and male dominance in native village cultures. The father Pietro is often compelled to act in socially prescribed ways, such as demanding complete obedience from his children, beating the children when they misbehave, not allowing his wife to converse with his brothers and buddies, and reacting strongly when his wife puts lipstick on local boys and when oldest son paints his mother's toe nails.
Third, under the primary story of a families reaction to a manic-depressive mother and to the social context of Italy, there is a deeper underlying story of an Oedipal struggle between a father and his eldest son for the love of the mother and the struggle to be her protector. Pietro and Grazia appear to be only around 18 years older than their daughter Marinella and maybe 20 years older than their son Pasquale (who seems to be around 15). The 35 year old Pietro is at the height of lusty manly power and loves his wife completely. Yet when he is pushed by family and neighbors to hospitalize her, it is her eldest son, Pasquale who comes to her rescue. Pasquale is fast leaving the world of boyhood behind and entering the mysterious world of adult sexuality. He struggles with the father, rarely overtly, usually covertly, to save the mother from hospitalization.
It is the resolution of this conflict that begins to dominate the second half of the film and which is the climax of the film. The beauty of the actors and scenery, the basic primal reactions to the struggle for village existence, and the life affirming and basic humanity of this film all come together into a magnificient production.
Movie Review: Free Spirited
Summary: 5 Stars
"Respiro" is a highly entertaining italian movie released. Its theme of a mother of three who expresses her happy and her depressed side is brilliant. Its twists and turns arise as those closest to her change her life; some for the better, some for the worse. Such unique theme offers higher entertainment value to the audience. Its combination of free spirit and destruction keeps every scene interesting. Its every risque scene earns the producers tremendous repect despite difference in nudity opinions between the US and Italy. Valeria Golino("Frida") shines in her lead role as the mother of three. Her heart and soul poured into this movie fits the movie theme perfectly. So far, this is one of her career bests. She proves in this movie that she'll be a big-name actress in the near future. All other actors, old and young, also perform wonderfully. "Respiro" is a great movie for those looking for those looking for a worthy drama. This will surely please many audiences.Movie Review: The insights of desperation, depressive mood or lack of love!
Summary: 5 Stars
A small village of fishermen, who live in Lampedusa, a small Italian island, a young marriage; a woman who simply doesn't accept the boredoma and the reduced existential universe, where nothing happens. she needs to be listened, but the level of her demands are quite above the surroinding affective world who involves her. So she has not many options except the sea with its enormous significance of freedom, an existential metaphor where love is just a part of that crisis.
An unusual movie that possesses its own rhthym, slow but rewarding. The sensual beauty of Valeria Golino, the beauutiful island, baked by the sun lights, hovered by the dark cloud of social conventionalisms and lack of perspectives for a recent future in which tomorrow simply will be a simple varaint respect today.
A brilliant film that unavoidably, reminds us to Antonioni, the great master of silences, existential anguish and desperation. There are exquisite images throughout it.
Movie Review: Freud could only imagine
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this movie. If I came to it with a literal mind then I would have been perplexed. Steeped in metaphor, it works like a poem, under the skin in a different language other than prose. It works in its images -- the sea, the cave, the feet gathering in water, like babies as they swim. It turns Freud right on his head with a child, a son no less, presenting the mother a cave out of which he will "birth" her. She will swim in the birthing water surrounding by townspeople whose feet resemble so many infants. The mother's death and resurrection are ultimately the salvation of the small minded, controlling town where men have always been at the center of all activity. Thank you for making this beautiful film.