Marco Bellocchio (director)
(studio)
131 (length)
24 February 2017 (released)
19 January 2017
Based on Massimo Gramerllini’s best-selling autobiographical novel (Sweet Dreams, Little One) the film depicts how he lost his mother when he was nine years old and never really came to terms with it. The effect of her death cut him off from experiencing life on an emotional level. The film has some superb shots and brilliant sequences but they alone can’t help this film from feeling a little too long while, at times,failing to cover key moments.
Elisa (Bérénice Bejo) is Massimo’s (Valerio Mastandrea) love interest towards the end of the film but this feels almost shoehorned in, with little development, and goes from not really showing any interest to Massimo going to a family party.
Bellocchio leans heavily into the Italian sterotype of the love and strong bond between Mother and Son starting with them dancing and watching TV together as close friends. After her death his despondent Father tries to connect with Massimo but can never really get any real joy and appears to give up pretty quickly showing more affection for his Napoleon collection than his Son.
The film darts back and forth between a child who won’t believe his Mother is dead and an Adult who is emotionally cut off from the world so much that in some scenes he looks almost bored by life. Throughout the film Bellocchio uses shots from Belphegor, Nosferatu and Caligari to create an almost macabre atmosphere surrounding Massimo for when he is feeling alone or abandoned by his Mother.
It’s enjoyable enough with Bellocchio creating a few engrossing and atmospheric moments but for everything it does right the film then stalls and I found myself having to try and work out lots of the story that was either left out of the book or cut from the film to save time which is a common problem with book adaptations.
