Synopsis
This stunningly beautiful film, which has to be seen on the big screen, takes us into the world of a remote Italian mountain village high in the Trentino Alps. An enthralling family drama told in four chapters to mirror the changing seasons, giving us a glimpse of a disappearing era as the Second World War comes to a close. Inspired by events in her own family’s past, writer/director Maura Delpero crafts a multi-layered and deeply human story as we discover how global and local events shape the lives of the large Graziadei family, uncovering the hidden secrets and lies within.
During the course of this gently paced movie we get to know them. Cesare Graziadei is the village teacher, a man used to being obeyed. He and his wife, Adele, are soon to have another baby, adding to their already large family of eight children. The film primarily centres on the three older daughters; the eldest, quiet Lucia, Ada, the devout one with a book full of self-devised atonements for her sins, and Flavia, the youngest and academic one, the only child destined for a chance to have a proper education. Life in Vermiglio continues as it always has, untouched by the outside world, until Cesare’s nephew Attilio returns from the war, helped back by his Sicilian comrade Pietro. Everyone knows they are deserters. Despite being seen as ‘foreign’ and unable to speak their dialect, Pietro is made welcome and allowed to stay.
Vermiglio is a film of immense subtlety and quiet observation, beautifully crafted in a way that recalls Italian neorealist cinema. The passage of time in the icy beauty of their Alpine environment is superbly evoked by the stunning, muted cinematography of Mikhail Krichman – highly regarded for his work with Andrey Zvyagintsev. Exquisitely acted by a mix of professional actors and locals and spoken mostly in dialect, it is an immersive and absorbing film. It was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
Language: Italian, Latin, Ladino with subtitles
Additional Info
Why Watch?
“It is a movie which inhabits its own universe with ease and calm but also widens it to include the audience who are inducted into its mysteries. A lovely film.” (The Guardian)
“Vermiglio is exquisite. There’s a rough, earthy tenderness to the picture and a kinship with other recent examples of Italian folk cinema.” (The Observer)
Director’s comment - Maura Delpero
Maura Delpero on Vermiglio: Interview LoudandClear, January 10, 2025
Was there any painter or specific artistic movement that inspired you the most? “Mostly Giovanni Segantini’s winter paintings. But also Flemish paintings and some artists of the Romantic era, like Friedrich and Courbet. That is why the camera is fixed and never out of focus: it almost looks like a painting. It really set the aesthetic of the film because I also wanted a sort of painted texture that did not feel too sharp, too defined, or too digital, so that drove our choice in terms of lenses in order to make the audience feel like they were in a huge painting.”
Location
Cheltenham Film Society, Bacon Theatre, Hatherley Rd, Cheltenham, GL51 6EP
