VERMIGLIO
(director/writer: Maura Delpero; cinematographer: Mikhail Krichman; editor: Luca Mattei; music:Matteo Franceschini; cast: Tommaso Ragno (Cesare), Giuseppe De Domenico (Pietro), Roberta Rovelli (Adele), Martina Scrinzi (Lucia), Patrick Gardner (Dino), Carlotta Gamba (Virginia), Rachele Potrich (Ada), Anna Thaler (Flavia), Orietta Notari (Zia Cesira), Santiago Fondevila Sancet (Attilio), Enrico Panizza (Pietrin), Luis Thaler (Tarcisio), Simone Bendetti (Giacinto); Runtime: 119; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Francesca Andreoli, Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli, Maura Delpero, Santiago Fondevila Sancet, Carole Baraton, Pauline Boucheny Pinon, Jacques-Henri Bronckart, Tatjana Kozar; Janus Films; 2024-Italy/France/Belgium-in Italian with English subtitles)
“Splendid drama about a large Italian Alpine farmer family who live near the border with Germany during
World War II.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Italian filmmaker Maura Delpero (“Maternal”) is director-writer of this splendid drama about a large Italian Alpine farmer family who live in an isolated village of 2000 near the border with Germany during World War II. It was filmed in four chapters (following the seasons).
It won the Grand Jury prize at the Venice film festival.
It’s set in the remote Alpine village of Vermiglio in 1944, during the closing days of the war. Cesare (Tommaso Ragno) is the white-haired village elementary schoolteacher who raises a large family with his supportive wife Adele (Roberta Rovelli). Cesare is the most respected person in the village. In addition to teaching the kids he runs an adult literacy class. Of his many sons and daughters, Dino (Patrick Gardner) is the only ne’er-do-well, who has a big drinking problem he can’t overcome. He is pitied by dad for being so hopeless.
Tomasso favors his obedient daughter Ada (Rachele Potrich). But he is unaware of Ada’s intense friendship with the flirty local girl Virginia (Carlotta Gamba) and Ada’s habit of breaking into his desk and getting off on his secret porn collection.
Flavia (Anna Thaler) is the family’s best student who will soon leave home to attend a boarding school.
Lucia (Martina Scrinzi) is the oldest and most sensitive of the children. Her life is altered when the Sicilian army deserter Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico) saves the life of another deserter, Lucia’s cousin Attillo (Santiago Fondevilla), and he hides Pietro in Lucia’s family’s barn – with no fear of detection or being turned in. Lucia and Pietro are soon attracted to each other and after she gets pregnant they marry.
Tomasso’s other hobby besides his photography collection, is collecting gramophone records and he buys them with money that’s budgeted for food. I love him best for playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to his class.
Delpero paints a lovely picture of pastoral life in a village that resists change, and the DP Mikhail Krichman captures the natural beauty of the village and in particular the winter snowy landscape. During the war there was no gunfire in the peaceful village.
When the war ends, the serene life in the village suddenly changes and the new post-war problems arise in the conservative community that refuses to change its ways as it hides behind secrets and lies.
Pietro asks Lucia to trust him, as he returns to Sicily and his family. But she becomes alarmed when he fails to return after weeks away and after telling her he’ll shortly be back.
The director used her family’s experience with that village to enhance the film with a sense of authenticity (her father was from that village).
Ms. Delpero’s matter of fact way she handled the story with an ease made the film such a wonderful watch. It also offers a soft-edged feminist commentary on how women are trapped in traditional roles in such an unchanging patriarchal society.
It played at the Toronto Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 12/14/2024 GRADE: A-
dennisschwartzreviews.com