Respiro (2002/2003) (AKA Respiro: Grazia's
Island)
If you're lucky, you'll see "Respiro"
before anyone tells you anything about it. In other
words: Don't read this review and have this interesting
film ruined for you. Go see it!
"Respiro" takes place in modern
day in a small fishing village in Italy. Filmmaker
Emmanuele Crialese, who also scripts here, takes much
time to set up the story for us. For a long while
it seems as if we are just seeing a lackadaisical
story about a young teen boy named Pasquale and the
small town world he inhabits.
Pasquale has a younger brother who
often accompanies him around the village and they
engage in activities that pretty much every teenager
does. They get in fights with another group of boys,
they hunt and fish, they scavenge for junk, they ride
their motorscooter around.
Pasquale has a seemingly typical
homelife at first, a father who is also a fisherman,
a sister whose budding sexuality has her interested
in a young local policeman, and a free- spirited mother
who likes to swim in the nude in the gorgeous blue
ocean much to the delight of local fishermen and to
the dismay of Pasquale's father. But as the film progresses
we see that the mother is more than just free spirited,
she's a bit of a hell-raiser and maybe even has a
medical problem. While not really out of control,
she expresses a dominate demeanor and does not allow
the men in her life to subjugate her and often rebels
openly to their acts which she disapproves of.
The locale here is just gorgeous
with numerous coastal beaches used as backdrop for
the claustrophobic emotions and the pulsating sexual
tension going on in the film. If Pasquale's budding
sexuality were allowed to emerge, he might even, it
seems, end up in bed with his spirited mother. But
that isn't where the film is headed. This is simply
a product of the environment. The main characters
here are like ants under a magnifying glass and their
desperation causes them to rebel against the suffocating
conservatism of the village in any way they can. They
are not so much sexually interested in one and other,
mother and son, as they cling to each other in hopes
of surviving the restraining world (the village) that
seeks to make them its servants.
Instead of an incestuous love story,
the film evolves into a heated debate on the place
of women (and, to a certain degree, children) in a
male dominated society. Much is made of the male egotism
and machismo as well as the subjugation of women in
society. The most obvious scene representing this
is when Filippo, the youngest brother, interrupts
a date between his much older sister and the cute
police boy. His demeanor is crude, rude and annoying
and one sees how he has easily obtained these mannerisms
from his molding by his family and the island society.
Another clue to this theme is a scene where the mother
paints some local boys faces with lipstick and is
chastised by one of the boy's fathers.
The acting here is simply wonderful.
Valerina Golino is amazing, like a women turned into
a wild stallion, as Grazia, the mother. We instinctively
love her and fight for her in our minds when the village
and her husband try to subjugate her. Filippo Pucillo
may be annoying as the younger brother but that is
exactly the point. He performs admirably and is either
a wonderful actor or perfectly cast. But it is Francesco
Casisa as Pasquale who really propels the story and
infuses the film with every single nuance it embodies.
His barely controlled sexuality the symbolic cohesion
of his undulating between boyhood and manhood, child
and adult, feminine emotion and masculine intellect.
He is a force to be reckoned with in the film.
"Respiro" ends in a way that totally
makes one question all that has come before. Since
this ending is enigmatic and abrupt, I will offer
my interpretation. NOTE: You definitely don't want
to read this if you plan on seeing the film but have
not done so yet.
In my opinion, at the end of the
film, we come to see that Grazia is, in fact, dead.
Much that happens after she runs away is a figment
of Pasquale's imagination. He dreams that he finds
her, hides her, and fakes her death because he himself
cannot face the truth. (This is why he passes out
on the beach in an earlier scene, because he knows
he is lying to himself and the pressure is more than
he can handle).
The ending, with the entire village
in the ocean, represents their complete loss and sorrow
over Grazia's death. They are adrift without her.
The film reminds us that a village is made up of several
people, of varying types. Although Grazia is problematic
and causes trouble for her neighbors, the village
is lost without her. They come into the water in their
grief which has left them bewildered and needy. (Others
think that in this scene they come to embrace her
in the water when she returns but I think this is
too literal an interpretation).
"Respiro" is an amazing film. So
beautiful shot and edited, the film reminds one of
the naturalistic films from Italy in the 50's and
60's, where seemingly simple stories emerged representing
a new realism in film. But the climactic and symbolic
ending surprises us and jolts us back into reality.
It reminds us that utopia is not simply a world without
problems, without troublemakers, but rather a world
where all types of people are allowed to exist and
express themselves in harmony.
Note:
During production the film was also
known as Boccanera.
"Respiro" can either mean "Breath"
or "Respite" in English.
The film was well received at several
festivals and won prizes at Cannes in 2002.
Released in 2002 in many countries,
the film debuted in May 2003 in the U.S.
Viewed in Austin in June 2003 at
a press sneak at the Dobie Theater.
