It infuriates me when a film is set in a fine countryside and gives this disconnect to reconnect energy but ends up under delivering. This film looked so promising I couldn’t skip it but guess what I got instead? Confusion, fuming and a whole lot of waiting for something that never really came.
Synopsis
According to my little understanding, the film follows Isabella (Gena Miller), a troubled young woman still carrying the emotional weight of losing her mother to cancer at a young age. Her father, Frank, emotionally checked out after the loss and buried himself in work, leaving Isabella to grow up surrounded by nannies and therapists instead of actual parental care.
Years later, Frank remarries Claudia, who convinces the family to take a break from their chaotic lives and spend time together in a remote Italian countryside estate, hoping they can reconnect and heal.
My Review and Rating
I didn’t enjoy this film. Nothing was clicking.
There is a story here which is grief, family dysfunction, and emotional distance. On paper, it actually sounds like something that should hit hard but watching it felt like the film was just existing. The scenes dragged without direction and their conversations didn’t feel impactful. Also, the emotional tension that should have carried the film barely landed.
Isabella is supposed to be this deeply damaged, emotionally complex character and I get that but the film doesn’t do enough to make you truly connect with her. I couldn’t tell what exactly she needed therapy for. Was it because of the trauma of her mother’s death or that she was too flirty or a sex addict? Same with the father and with everyone else.
It’s like you see their pain and understand the idea of their struggles but you don’t feel anything and that’s a big problem for a film that is literally built on emotional healing.
Now there’s also the atmosphere over substance problem. Yes, the setting is nice. I mean it’s the Italian countryside we’re talking about here so it’s beautiful. I liked the quiet isolated vibe, it’s my kind of thing but the director of this film, whoever it was, cannot tell me visuals alone can carry a film. It felt like the movie was relying too heavily on scenery, silence and silly deep moments that didn’t actually say much. After a while, I just got tired.
This film is actually an unscripted, experimental project, which explains why it feels so loose and unstructured. And I get it, that kind of filmmaking can be great but here? It just made everything feel disconnected and unfocused.
All in all, this film, one of those ones that looks like it should be meaningful, but ends up empty. There was potential and a decent emotional foundation but none of it came together in a way that could’ve made me care. And at the end of it all, I was just sitting there like, so what exactly was the point of this? Sighs.
Rating: 4/10