L'immensita

Setting what could almost be seen to be a modern area of confusion, prejudice and debate in the supposedly less enlightened times of 1970’s is quite a clever of Emanuele Crialese and his co-writers Francesca Manieri and Vittorio Moroni. For what they actually demonstrate is that society doesn’t appear to have moved that far.

Clara (Penélope Cruz) is married to Felice (Vincenzo Amato) with three children. The oldest Adriana (Luana Giuliani) is identifying as a boy and prefers to be called Andrea. Spanish born Clara is sympathetic to him while his father sees it as a phase; basically a tomboy. He however is getting frustrated by it and Clara’s approach to Andrea, while not noticing the signs of Clara’s depression or the fear he is instilling in all the children. It’s a powder-keg of pent-up frustrations with a dose of alpha male intolerance.

However there is some relief for the siblings when they find a Romani encampment nearby and Andrea befriends Sara (Penelope Nieto Conti). This leads to some distraction but the combination of trans-gender and prejudice against the Romani proves toxic and only ramps up Felice’s already rancid attitudes and prejudices.

The core of the film is that of Clara and Adriana/Andrea in that it is only his mother who has any sort of understanding, or wants to have, of his difficulties, though she too has her problems to deal with. Cruz is excellent bearing the responsibility for Andrea and the pressures of her overbearing husband and family. But the star here is Giuliani who manages a performance of power and defiance laced with great sensitivity.

There are moments of surrealism when the film breaks into song and dance based on an Italian tv show. What it all means is open to interpretation though such a miserable domestic situation could trigger escapes into fantasy. Though Cruz and Andrea do throw caution to the wind with a joyful run through a throng of people shouting ‘viva’ and there’s a charming scene when she joins her children under the table at a boring family Christmas Eve meal.

While the story has a clear objective running through it, the film also tries to cover a range of other related issues such as childhood, parenting, first love, juvenile mental health and domestic violence. It feels like a few things too far and at times it appears stretched and cluttered. Nevertheless overall I’immensita is an interesting experiment with an original way to look at one of the most complex and deeply-felt social issues of current times.

L’immensita will be in UK cinemas from 11 August 2022.