L'Attesa is a small intimate film which wouldn't have attracted too much attention if the name of Juliette Binoche [Trois Couleurs: Bleu (1993), Chocolat (2000)] hadn't been attached to the project. Messina, who had previously worked alongside Paolo Sorrentino in the miraculous La Grande Bellezza, has given us a simple story but has presented it in a slow burning way full of beautiful aesthetic images.
Binoche plays Anna, a woman who has recently experienced a great loss in her life. The movie itself begins with the funeral of the beloved person that she's lost, the dark beautifully-staged images ending up on Anna's heartbroken face and on her feet when we see that she has peed herself. The identity of the deceased is kept a secret but not for long, as during a phone call it is implied that it is her son Giuseppe who has suddenly passed away: "No, he is not here... I am his mother." However, as the film progresses there are moments when one gets to hope that what we have taken as fact might actually be a mistake.
The plot thickens when Giuseppe's girlfriend, Jeanne (Lou de Laage [J'aime regarder les filles (2011)]) arrives the next day not knowing of her boyfriend's demise. Soon, Anna, understands that she cannot be the one to break the girl's heart so she tells her that Giuseppe will come on Easter Day and she postpones the inevitable moment of revelation as much as she can. The two women start having a connection which helps Anna accept and get over her son's death. With Jeanne's involuntary help she begins feeling alive and young. Could she be hiding her true feelings by trying not to collapse? Could she be trying to live through the young woman? Maybe and quite probably. After all her loss has been huge. But, when will she finally tell the truth to the young woman?
L'Attesa is an interesting slowburning film that treats grief with respect. It shows a mother who in order not to collapse chooses to hold on to anything she can: whether that might be her house or her uninvited visitor. But at the same time, it is a film that I wished it could reach its destination a bit faster. The mystery of the deceased's identity as well as the when she would reveal it to his girlfriend could not keep everyone for long. Had it not been for Binoche's flawless performance who by silence could convey even more than by any kind of dialogue, this wouldn't have been what it is. And even if there are so many expressed or implied feelings in this one, L'Attesa lacks in storytelling, something which would have transformed the film from mediocre to great.
L'Attesa was shown on September 25th.
Binoche plays Anna, a woman who has recently experienced a great loss in her life. The movie itself begins with the funeral of the beloved person that she's lost, the dark beautifully-staged images ending up on Anna's heartbroken face and on her feet when we see that she has peed herself. The identity of the deceased is kept a secret but not for long, as during a phone call it is implied that it is her son Giuseppe who has suddenly passed away: "No, he is not here... I am his mother." However, as the film progresses there are moments when one gets to hope that what we have taken as fact might actually be a mistake.
L'Attesa is an interesting slowburning film that treats grief with respect. It shows a mother who in order not to collapse chooses to hold on to anything she can: whether that might be her house or her uninvited visitor. But at the same time, it is a film that I wished it could reach its destination a bit faster. The mystery of the deceased's identity as well as the when she would reveal it to his girlfriend could not keep everyone for long. Had it not been for Binoche's flawless performance who by silence could convey even more than by any kind of dialogue, this wouldn't have been what it is. And even if there are so many expressed or implied feelings in this one, L'Attesa lacks in storytelling, something which would have transformed the film from mediocre to great.
L'Attesa was shown on September 25th.
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