Nanni Moretti’s extraordinary meditation on grief and mortality won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2001. Since then he’s worked on a broader canvas, with lacerating dissections of Italian politics, society and religion in films like The Caiman and We Have a Pope. After serving as President of the Jury at the film festival in 2012, he returns to Cannes next month with Mia Madre. Margherita Buy (in her third consecutive Moretti film) plays a director grappling with stress from every direction. Her mother is terminally ill, her love life is a shambles, her relationship with her teenage daughter is strained, and she’s trying to avoid on-set meltdowns with a temperamental Italian-American movie star (played by John Tuturro).
The Son’s Room is not often cited as one of the most significant Palme d’Or winners, but I saw it at a time of my life when its emotional clarity hit me like a freight train. So I’m excited to see what Sasha has to say about Mi Madre in a few weeks.
I cannot wait to see this. Moretti is just so thoughtful with his films.
The film has already opened in Italy (which makes me wonder how it is even eligible for the Cannes competition) to rave reviews. It is claimed to be Moretti’s best film since La Stanza Del Figlio, one of the best Italian films of the 2000’s. I can’t wait to see it!
I still find amazing, that “We Have a Pope” (Habemus Papam, 2011), failed to be awarded and nominated in the end-of-the-year awards in the USA, for Foreign Film, Lead Actor and Best Original Screenplay… it was not only charming and cute, it was deep and poignant, and probably was a deciding factor on Benedict XVI’s decission to resign as a Pope (he was probably screened the film, before release) and retire with his “longtime man of trust” by his side, the handsome Georg… http://www.truthwinsout.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Georg.jpg
Carpe Diem, my friends, Carpe Diem (oh, if anyone doesn’t believe this, well, just ask in Munich, about Reitzinger’s past) 😉
Nanni Moretti is just the best of the best. Not a bad film in his entire body of work.