Respiro

Starring:Valeria Golino, Vincenzo Amato (II), Francesco Casisa, Veronica D'Agostino, Filippo Pucillo, Muzzi Loffredo, Elio Germano, Avy Marciano, Giovanni Mannino, Angela Maraventano, Guiseppe Sola, Aldo Chessari, Pasquale De Rubels, Salvatore Taranto, Giacomo Galozzo, Filippo Solina, Vincenza Davi, Antonio Laterzo, Vincenzo Davi, Rosario Sanguedolce
Director: Emanuele Crialese
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

A sunny seaside location and the radiant beauty of Valeria Golino are enough to set the mood in Respiro, a fitfully effective Italian film. Hollywood never quite figured out what to do with Golino, but she blossoms in this story about a sensual wife who's either free-spirited or manic-depressive, depending on your perspective. Her fisherman husband (Vincenzo Amato) finally decides to have her sent away for professional help, which only provokes an even more impulsive act from her. Within this story is a pointed critique of male machismo--Italian style. Director Emanuele Crialese veers between the neo-realist tradition and a more Fellini-esque taste for symbolism, never quite settling on one or the other. But the whiff of classic-era Italian film is welcome, and the seasoned, sun-baked presence of La Golino makes this movie compelling even when its point seems obscure. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Great!.......2007-06-06

This is a masterpiece...
Good performances, beauty and feelings!
The boy that plays in the film is unbelievable, to much sensitive!
I've liked!

This film is a powerful concentration of life in a small area of Italy........2006-06-17

Although subtitled Grazia's island (Grazia is the lead role, magnificently realized by Valeria Golino), "Respiro" could have well been called "Scenes from rural Sicilian life", as the scenography, cinematography and tableaux-like imagery seem as important to the director as her thin narrative line. Respiro's locale is Lampedusa, a tiny island far off the west coast of Sicily. About the same latitude as Malta, this place is about as remote as it gets - Tunisia is closer than Palermo. It can be safe to say that Italian time here has pretty much stood still for decades; this is Italy of de Sica and Mascagni, not Fellini and Prada. The men go out to sea, the children play, women pack fish, old black-clad crones meddle and the languid summer air of total boredom hangs down from the cloudless sky.

Throughout this film you would probably ask yourself, "Is she really as crazy as the family and neighbors think she is or just free spirited?" It's a fairly typical story, the type that a few great (and many, many average) Italian filmmakers have been serving up for the last three generations - life in the sun drenched rural, ritualistic and tribal south and the saga of one village denizen who dares to break the moulds. How long since "Cinema Paradiso?"

What I like most about the movie, besides the appealing scenery, was the interrelations of the characters, the humor, petty gossips, the impromptu emotional outbursts, the displays of maternal and filial affection. The two boys are tremendous: the older Pasquale (Francesco Casisa) is the more mature of the two. The younger Filippo (Filippo Pucillo) has an unregulated diarrhea mouth filled with hilarious and inspired ravings, often without sense. His rant against the busybody women is a treasure, as is his little-brother-as-big-brother protectiveness of his sister from the policeman-friend. The boy embodies an epic Italianate inflammability far beyond his years. While viewing this I thought the son's affection was overtly and uncomfortably oedipal at times. They do spend a lot of time and energy comforting their mom plus defending her against verbal attacks in the village.

After seeing this film, I have realized that the rural lives by the sea in many countries are similar, the differences are in the languages, but the feelings are same. I enjoyed this film so much I might see it a couple of times.

Magnificient Italians in a magnificent film.......2006-01-07

This beautiful film impacted me at a very physical level. The beauty of the sun baked island of Lampedusa in the turquoise Mediterranean Sea is stunning and elicits images of antiquity. The actors are almost angelic in their beauty. The life of the family and villagers is primal and native, simple and sometimes harsh. There are multiple issues that could be discussed about this film. I will discuss three below:

First, the mother in this story, Grazia, is a functioning manic-depressive who is wild and delightful in her manic stages. Yet, she frightens the town's other residents and she is an embarrassment to her husband, mother-in-law, daughter, and two sons. The overt, primary story line revolves around this woman and the struggle her family endures trying to get her into psychiatric treatment in Milan and then dealing with her mysterious disappearance.

Second, the story explores machismo and male dominance in native village cultures. The father Pietro is often compelled to act in socially prescribed ways, such as demanding complete obedience from his children, beating the children when they misbehave, not allowing his wife to converse with his brothers and buddies, and reacting strongly when his wife puts lipstick on local boys and when oldest son paints his mother's toe nails.

Third, under the primary story of a families reaction to a manic-depressive mother and to the social context of Italy, there is a deeper underlying story of an Oedipal struggle between a father and his eldest son for the love of the mother and the struggle to be her protector. Pietro and Grazia appear to be only around 18 years older than their daughter Marinella and maybe 20 years older than their son Pasquale (who seems to be around 15). The 35 year old Pietro is at the height of lusty manly power and loves his wife completely. Yet when he is pushed by family and neighbors to hospitalize her, it is her eldest son, Pasquale who comes to her rescue. Pasquale is fast leaving the world of boyhood behind and entering the mysterious world of adult sexuality. He struggles with the father, rarely overtly, usually covertly, to save the mother from hospitalization.

It is the resolution of this conflict that begins to dominate the second half of the film and which is the climax of the film. The beauty of the actors and scenery, the basic primal reactions to the struggle for village existence, and the life affirming and basic humanity of this film all come together into a magnificient production.

Freud could only imagine.......2005-10-30

I loved this movie. If I came to it with a literal mind then I would have been perplexed. Steeped in metaphor, it works like a poem, under the skin in a different language other than prose. It works in its images -- the sea, the cave, the feet gathering in water, like babies as they swim. It turns Freud right on his head with a child, a son no less, presenting the mother a cave out of which he will "birth" her. She will swim in the birthing water surrounding by townspeople whose feet resemble so many infants. The mother's death and resurrection are ultimately the salvation of the small minded, controlling town where men have always been at the center of all activity. Thank you for making this beautiful film.

Good, despite deception in the marketing of this film.......2005-03-28

I enjoyed my actually viewing of 'Respiro' - especially director Emanuele Crialese's stunning underwater photography (most notably in one of the most unique and mystical endings ever filmed) and in seeing that someone finally figured out how to make use of Valeria Golino's quirky beauty. US audiences will recall her from her appearance 17 (!!) years ago as a 22-year-old stunner in 'Rainman.'

What I didn't like about 'Respiro' was the US marketing of this film and need to deceive renters/buyers. First, there's the tagline used stateside: "As unique as the paradise she lived in." Ummm, no. Crialese's Lampedusa is hardly one depicted as paradise. We see its working-class residents struggling to scratch out a living, and are given the feeling of an island so disconnected from mainland Italy so as to lag and suffer behind the times.

Next, we get a cover image of a smiling Galino and on-screen husband Pietro (as played by Vincenzo Amato). While there's no doubt that Pietro deeply loves his wife, this sunny scene between the two never comes close to reflecting the on-screen relationship. Pietro falls into the category of "long-suffering" with a wife who is almost certainly an undiagnosed manic-depressive (Galino's mother-in-law complains of 'highs that are too high and lows that are too low').

Third, there's the blurb on the back of the box that says "some even say she is crazy, but her youngest son is the only one who knows the truth." Well, they're not even paying attention here: Galino's protector is her *oldest* son, Pasquale. And, far from knowing the truth about his mother, he is simply out to shield her from the withering chatter of the town's residents, who quite literally have driven her from the town.

I'll encourage those of you who have seen and appreciated "Respiro" to try the recent "I'm Not Scared," which - much like 'Respiro' - depicts the often-suffocating pressure of raising a family in a small, distant town.

Boccanera / Respiro: Grazia's Island PAL DVD

Average customer rating:

Boccanera / Respiro: Grazia's Island PAL DVD
Director: Emanuele Crialese
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Coded for Regions 2, and 4 Pal
English Subtitles
Dolby Digital 5.1 (Italian)
Widescreen 1.85:1 (16:9 Enhanced)
Unrated

ASIN: B000RWCPX6

Product Description

This highly sought after Italian film, is presented in an ideal format for an English Audience... english cover, English Subtitles... you've even got special features in this premium release! Respiro features stunning photography and locations that will take your breath away.

Average customer rating:

Great!
This film is a powerful concentration of life in a small area of Italy.
Magnificient Italians in a magnificent film
Freud could only imagine
Good, despite deception in the marketing of this film

Respiro
Starring: Valeria Golino , Vincenzo Amato (II) , Francesco Casisa , Veronica D'Agostino , and Filippo Pucillo
Director: Emanuele Crialese
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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