Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier) live opposite each other but are more than just neighbors. Theirs is a passionate and complicit romantic relationship. Madeleine, however, does not have the courage to confess to her children that she has been in love with Nina for years. Their discretion is something akin to hiding and when an unforeseen and dramatic event breaks the status quo, their romance is in danger of ending badly.
In his debut film Due, Filippo Meneghetti, a Paduan director who has lived in France for years, is very good at showing the passion between two women who are no longer young. And this already projects the viewer into the story. We may not share some things – Madeleine should have the courage to confess her relationship with Nina, at least to her daughter; the two women dream of escaping together and going to live in Rome (really, are you sure?) – but we can’t question their love. Meneghetti is also very good at focusing (as he explains in his Anatomy of a scene) on the instruments of the thriller to avoid the pitfalls of melodrama. And the female performers of his film support him fully. Not only Martine Chevallier and Barbara Sukowa, both beautiful, each in their own way, but also Léa Drucker, who plays Madeleine’s daughter, has a key role as a point of view “outside” the couple, on which it is not difficult to tune in.
The reopening of the theaters showed greater responsiveness among the smaller distributors – who are perhaps also those who suffered the most from the long closure – compared to the mastodons that usually dominate the weekly releases. Taking the big cities as a point of reference, there is a fair choice of films that can be considered “author”, while films of great appeal are still missing.
… And then there is Rifkin’s festival, the new film by Woody Allen. Mort Rifkin (Wallace Shawn), a frustrated New York film critic, accompanies his wife Sue (Gina Gershon) to the San Sebastián festival, Spain’s most important festival. Sue is in charge of the public relations of the highly esteemed French director Philippe (Louis Garrel, who for the occasion borrows the name of his esteemed father) and between the two of them there seems to be an understanding destined to cross professional boundaries. Rifkin, convinced that he is on the verge of a heart attack, meets a young and charming Spanish doctor (Elena Anaya) and falls in love with her. In the meantime, he begins to think about his real needs and frustrations.
In keeping with the latest examples produced by the movie machine that is Woody Allen, Rifkin’s festival reserves some small pleasures for us, starting with the setting on the sidelines of a major international film festival (where, among other things, the film was presented in September 2020). I still don’t know if the relative general calmness of the film has more to do with the age of the author, with mine or with the fact that one of the protagonists is the cinema itself. Surely Allen seems less “ruthless” than usual and his umpteenth alter ego at the end appears almost serene. In any case, the film would be much less interesting if it weren’t for the dreams of its protagonist, which take the form of small parody tributes dedicated to great masters of the past, names that have always had a place in the great Allenian encyclopedia. I’m not saying more so as not to spoil the surprise, but Woody Allen and Vittorio Storaro must have really enjoyed making them.
Due
By Filippo Meneghetti. With Martine Chevallier, Barbara Sukowa, Léa Drucker. France / Belgium / Luxembourg 2019, 99 ‘. In the hall.
Rifkin’s festival
By Woody Allen. With Wallace Shawn, Gina Gershon, Louis Garrel, Elena Anaya, Sergi López. Spain / United States / Italy 2020, 88 ‘. In the hall
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