ABOUT THE FILM
Main Idea/Topic:
The main idea of the film is to illustrate that not only in love, but in every aspect of our lives and life itself destiny plays a big role, that everything even tough it seems is not, is related, to show a romantic view of love in which the ancient saying of Jesus Christ applies; that is “Give Caesar what its Caesar’s, and give men what its men’s.”
Main Idea/Topic:
The main idea of the film is to illustrate that not only in love, but in every aspect of our lives and life itself destiny plays a big role, that everything even tough it seems is not, is related, to show a romantic view of love in which the ancient saying of Jesus Christ applies; that is “Give Caesar what its Caesar’s, and give men what its men’s.”
Main Characters:
Him
Her
Zoe
Aunt
Neighbor
Baker
Doctor
PERSONAL RESPONSES
Initial Responses:
A movie about love, and the ways in which love makes thru to be in our hearts, the games we play when we flirt. It is a movie about converged lives because of fate; just another romantic drama of Italian cinema.
Later Responses:
It is a movie about the problems of the mind, about how our ways go on and on through the waves of time a movie that says that life its volatile and short and that everything we thing we have in this world its just borrowed for the little time we are here; in other words, the air is not ours to keep.
Who is the writer on the film? / Has the screenplay been adapted from another work?
Marina Fabbri
Carmelo Marabello
Stefano Pasetto
Even tough the screenplay is not an adaptation of another work it makes a reference to the romantic death of the Colombian poet José Asunción Silva.
Background on the director:
Stefano Pasetto was born in Rome in 1970, and graduated from Scuola Nazionale di Cinema (National School of Cinema), where he edited and wrote the scripts of several short films and documentaries. He later focused on directing short films and documentaries such as I Don't Need Anything (1999), Sisters (2000), One for the Eyes, One for the Mouth (2000), Rebels of '900 (2002) and Waiting in the Wings (2003), which were screened at national and international film festivals, winning several awards.
(www.miamifimfestival.com)
When was the film made? / What is/was the social and political climate like at the time in that country and the world?
In recent years we have seen a significant revival of big mass movements in Italy. Moreover in the midst of the rapid development of the movement against capitalist globalization, we have seen the extraordinary days in Genoa in July 2001. Then came the rise of the anti-war movement, which started at the time of the Afghanistan war and was confirmed at the European Social Forum in Florence (November 2002) and the international day against the war in February 15, 2003. Some hundreds of thousands of youth have come to the forefront of the scene and this indicates the resurgence of a new capacity to act and a repoliticization. All this in a political and social context still marked by the defeats of the 1990s and by the persistence of neoliberal policies which have been given a new impulsion, with marked reactionary traits, by the Berlusconi government which came to power following the elections of May 2001. In this context of revival of social struggles and sharper critiques of neoliberal policies (as well as the international financial bodies which inspire them), the traditional workers’ movement, that is the organized movement of wage earners, has begun to express itself. Even in the 1990s large mobilizations took place in Italy. However those involved were above all public sector trades unionists. In the public sector, guarantees of employment were better than in the private and thus the relationship of forces was better and favoured a response. (http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/article.php3?id_article=132)
What does the title mean in relation with the film as a whole?
Try to establish a connection –sometimes clear, sometimes metaphorical.
The title is a romantic metaphor, it is said in the movie that a turtle’s shell is so strong that almost anything can break it, which is why it is the perfect place to hide a secret. Zoe is the incarnation of love and the materialization of fixations. Turtles on their backs can’t walk, and they could stay that way for a long time. Like the repressed or delayed “love”, or adventurous affair that these two had.
Describe how the opening credits are presented? / How do they relate to meaning?
There is a scene in which a yellow bag is floating over the water, then it cuts to black with the credits appearing in the lower third of the screen in white letters, than it cuts to the shot of a woman walking with a game called Scarabeo, then cuts back to black and white letters, then cuts to a middle shot of the same woman walking and steps on the yellow bag of the first shot, cuts back to black and white letters again and finally there is a cut to the woman entering a jail. The credits relate to the movie as a whole in the way that they converge so many times thru different way such as the bag that they both step on. In other words the scene in which images appear are always in movement, meaning the times they converged in the same places and the blacks represent the fact that even tough they were so close they didn’t met.
What three or four sequences are most important in the film? / Why?
The scene in the restaurant in which Him is taking pictures to the people outside and the daughter of the Baker sits on the table, she has her raid hair tied up so her neck is exposed, Him does not notices her and she stands up to go away, and Him sees her neck and grabs her by hardly her wrist. This scene is important because it is the first scene in which the director makes us go inside Him’s head or exposes it, showing that he has a fixation with beautiful necks and backs. This is important to now because is lets us know that Him is psychologically obsessed.
The scene in which the neighbor asks Her where his heart is, then he tells her if she could draw it for him so that he does not forget where it is. This scene is important because when he says that he has a theory that says that every person’s heart has a different shape, a difference size and a different position, he is clearly talking about love. He is saying in an analogy how love is perceived in the movie. Also it is important because the way in which he dies, which is not an original idea of the director, because is almost a copy of how the Colombian poet José Asunción Silva killed himself, saying between the lines that there is also a melancholic way of seeing existence in the movie.
The scene in which Zoe gets lost or returns to the natural at the same place were Him and Her first met, the place where Him gave Her Zoe so much time ago. This scene is important because as Zoe goes away, with it, the secret is discovered and goes away too, there is no more mystery in the film, also the fact that Zoe which represented love goes away, implies that their relationship is about to end.
What were your expectations from your knowledge of that country’s cinema or director’s work? / Where they confirmed or disappointed? Explain.
I expected this film to be a romantic and passionate love story, full of the Italian devotion, obviously insightful. I shall say I was a little disappointed, because even tough the drama of their destiny to be together is cut, by the rush of life, perhaps because is not the right time; I feel like all the emotion this film could have arose in its audience was under exploited. Perhaps because the actors failed in transmitting the essence of the love displayed in this film, perhaps because of a bad musical selection. But either way I found more interesting and romantic the subtexted love between the neighbor and her aunt that the protagonists love.
In your opinion, what was the aim/purpose of this film? Be specific.
The purpose of the film is to say that what is for us no one will take from us, no matter how much they try. So we should not be neither too passive nor we should rush into taking actions; first we should be certain of what appears to be a fact before our eyes.
Give at least five examples from the film (besides the language) which signal it’s being labeled a film from _____________________ (country).
Absence of sexual and generational boundaries
Insightful analysis of the characters psychology
Appearance of the family
The beauty of subtle details
Marginalization of individuals due to working conditions
How does the film try to make its case? (e.g. by emotional appeal, alienation, manipulation of point of view, documentary authority, symbolism, etc.) Give examples. / Is it persuasive?
The movie makes its case via symbolism. Zoe is a symbol of perduring love and secrets in the eternity of time; the game Scarabeo is the symbol of how everything converges in one point or another, the fixation on the backs and necks is a symbol of inner desires and repression. And cooking and the crossword is the symbol of how love makes its way.
Him
Her
Zoe
Aunt
Neighbor
Baker
Doctor
PERSONAL RESPONSES
Initial Responses:
A movie about love, and the ways in which love makes thru to be in our hearts, the games we play when we flirt. It is a movie about converged lives because of fate; just another romantic drama of Italian cinema.
Later Responses:
It is a movie about the problems of the mind, about how our ways go on and on through the waves of time a movie that says that life its volatile and short and that everything we thing we have in this world its just borrowed for the little time we are here; in other words, the air is not ours to keep.
Who is the writer on the film? / Has the screenplay been adapted from another work?
Marina Fabbri
Carmelo Marabello
Stefano Pasetto
Even tough the screenplay is not an adaptation of another work it makes a reference to the romantic death of the Colombian poet José Asunción Silva.
Background on the director:
Stefano Pasetto was born in Rome in 1970, and graduated from Scuola Nazionale di Cinema (National School of Cinema), where he edited and wrote the scripts of several short films and documentaries. He later focused on directing short films and documentaries such as I Don't Need Anything (1999), Sisters (2000), One for the Eyes, One for the Mouth (2000), Rebels of '900 (2002) and Waiting in the Wings (2003), which were screened at national and international film festivals, winning several awards.
(www.miamifimfestival.com)
When was the film made? / What is/was the social and political climate like at the time in that country and the world?
In recent years we have seen a significant revival of big mass movements in Italy. Moreover in the midst of the rapid development of the movement against capitalist globalization, we have seen the extraordinary days in Genoa in July 2001. Then came the rise of the anti-war movement, which started at the time of the Afghanistan war and was confirmed at the European Social Forum in Florence (November 2002) and the international day against the war in February 15, 2003. Some hundreds of thousands of youth have come to the forefront of the scene and this indicates the resurgence of a new capacity to act and a repoliticization. All this in a political and social context still marked by the defeats of the 1990s and by the persistence of neoliberal policies which have been given a new impulsion, with marked reactionary traits, by the Berlusconi government which came to power following the elections of May 2001. In this context of revival of social struggles and sharper critiques of neoliberal policies (as well as the international financial bodies which inspire them), the traditional workers’ movement, that is the organized movement of wage earners, has begun to express itself. Even in the 1990s large mobilizations took place in Italy. However those involved were above all public sector trades unionists. In the public sector, guarantees of employment were better than in the private and thus the relationship of forces was better and favoured a response. (http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/article.php3?id_article=132)
What does the title mean in relation with the film as a whole?
Try to establish a connection –sometimes clear, sometimes metaphorical.
The title is a romantic metaphor, it is said in the movie that a turtle’s shell is so strong that almost anything can break it, which is why it is the perfect place to hide a secret. Zoe is the incarnation of love and the materialization of fixations. Turtles on their backs can’t walk, and they could stay that way for a long time. Like the repressed or delayed “love”, or adventurous affair that these two had.
Describe how the opening credits are presented? / How do they relate to meaning?
There is a scene in which a yellow bag is floating over the water, then it cuts to black with the credits appearing in the lower third of the screen in white letters, than it cuts to the shot of a woman walking with a game called Scarabeo, then cuts back to black and white letters, then cuts to a middle shot of the same woman walking and steps on the yellow bag of the first shot, cuts back to black and white letters again and finally there is a cut to the woman entering a jail. The credits relate to the movie as a whole in the way that they converge so many times thru different way such as the bag that they both step on. In other words the scene in which images appear are always in movement, meaning the times they converged in the same places and the blacks represent the fact that even tough they were so close they didn’t met.
What three or four sequences are most important in the film? / Why?
The scene in the restaurant in which Him is taking pictures to the people outside and the daughter of the Baker sits on the table, she has her raid hair tied up so her neck is exposed, Him does not notices her and she stands up to go away, and Him sees her neck and grabs her by hardly her wrist. This scene is important because it is the first scene in which the director makes us go inside Him’s head or exposes it, showing that he has a fixation with beautiful necks and backs. This is important to now because is lets us know that Him is psychologically obsessed.
The scene in which the neighbor asks Her where his heart is, then he tells her if she could draw it for him so that he does not forget where it is. This scene is important because when he says that he has a theory that says that every person’s heart has a different shape, a difference size and a different position, he is clearly talking about love. He is saying in an analogy how love is perceived in the movie. Also it is important because the way in which he dies, which is not an original idea of the director, because is almost a copy of how the Colombian poet José Asunción Silva killed himself, saying between the lines that there is also a melancholic way of seeing existence in the movie.
The scene in which Zoe gets lost or returns to the natural at the same place were Him and Her first met, the place where Him gave Her Zoe so much time ago. This scene is important because as Zoe goes away, with it, the secret is discovered and goes away too, there is no more mystery in the film, also the fact that Zoe which represented love goes away, implies that their relationship is about to end.
What were your expectations from your knowledge of that country’s cinema or director’s work? / Where they confirmed or disappointed? Explain.
I expected this film to be a romantic and passionate love story, full of the Italian devotion, obviously insightful. I shall say I was a little disappointed, because even tough the drama of their destiny to be together is cut, by the rush of life, perhaps because is not the right time; I feel like all the emotion this film could have arose in its audience was under exploited. Perhaps because the actors failed in transmitting the essence of the love displayed in this film, perhaps because of a bad musical selection. But either way I found more interesting and romantic the subtexted love between the neighbor and her aunt that the protagonists love.
In your opinion, what was the aim/purpose of this film? Be specific.
The purpose of the film is to say that what is for us no one will take from us, no matter how much they try. So we should not be neither too passive nor we should rush into taking actions; first we should be certain of what appears to be a fact before our eyes.
Give at least five examples from the film (besides the language) which signal it’s being labeled a film from _____________________ (country).
Absence of sexual and generational boundaries
Insightful analysis of the characters psychology
Appearance of the family
The beauty of subtle details
Marginalization of individuals due to working conditions
How does the film try to make its case? (e.g. by emotional appeal, alienation, manipulation of point of view, documentary authority, symbolism, etc.) Give examples. / Is it persuasive?
The movie makes its case via symbolism. Zoe is a symbol of perduring love and secrets in the eternity of time; the game Scarabeo is the symbol of how everything converges in one point or another, the fixation on the backs and necks is a symbol of inner desires and repression. And cooking and the crossword is the symbol of how love makes its way.
