Telling a fairy tale means “going to another world“, discovering a thousand things, different for each of us, embarking on a path that, in the case of Chiara Bellosi, coincides with “crossing the thickest part of a forest, following a path illuminated with sequins “. After the preview at the last Berlinale, “Calcinculo” arrives in cinemas (on the 24th), protagonists Benedetta (Gaia Di Pietro) a lonely, sad girl, afflicted with eating disorders, and Amanda (Andrea Carpenzano), a non-binary personality, who she dresses as a woman, manages the dartboard of an amusement park and faces life with slaps, always knowing that she can give them, but also take them: “Everyone has his own vision of things – says Carpenzano -. Amanda has accepted her own difficulties, she knows them, lives with them, has developed an awareness of important pain “. For Benedetta the journey is at the beginning, she still has to overcome many obstacles, face the gaze of her mother Anna (Barbara Chichiarelli) who does not see in her what she would like, stop eating everything she finds continuously, including preserved raw chicken breasts. in the refrigerator, undo her long black hair which, when it sways over her shoulders, makes her appear more attractive, more confident, more victorious: “Adolescence is beautiful – says Di Pietro, for the first time on the big screen – but it is even difficult, in general Benedetta feels judged, while, with Amanda, she immediately establishes a relationship of brotherhood, she finds her a nice, imaginative person, even if, in certain moments, it is embarrassing ”. In any case, it is better to stay with her than in a house of suffocating spaces where family presences certainly do not help to solve problems, where every room is dark and full of regrets, where a mother’s affection is always dressed as a reproach: ” Anna is a child mother – observes Chichiarelli -, it is very difficult to understand her daughter because she does not see the possibility of mimesis. Like all mothers she would like to offer support and stability, she feels a deep love towards Benedetta, but she cannot find the right way to communicate it to him “.
Between uncultivated meadows, sunny days, rides, make-up sessions, face to face in Amanda’s caravan which, for Benedetta, is like a castle of wonders, the tormented lives of two people are consumed who, standing next to each other to the other, without even understanding why they want to do it, they learn to grow, and to better face the judgment of others: “Benedetta’s mother – says Bellosi – continues to place a vertical gaze on her daughter, Amanda, on the other hand, looks at her horizontally. We chose Carpenzano because he has the sweetness suited to the character, during the shooting we worked on the infantile core that everyone carries within himself “. Produced by Tempesta with Rai Cinema, made with the support of the Lazio Region, “Calcinculo” was born from the screenplay by Maria Teresa Venditti and Luca De Bei, winner, in 2018, of the Solinas Prize and the Claudia Sbarigia Scholarship, created with the goal to point out the talent of those who try to tell the female universe: “The elements that convinced me to direct the film – adds Bellosi – are in the emotional attachment between the protagonists and in the attempt to immerse a realistic story in the imaginary climate and fairytale of an amusement park “. We will never know what will become of Amanda and Benedetta, but we will certainly feel relief following their escape, away from everything: “The ending is open – comments Bellosi -, I wanted it to communicate a sense of awareness and liberation. The encounters of life teach us to relate to the world. After meeting Amanda, Benedetta understands that she will be able to do it alone, and this is the important thing ”.