Emanuele Crialese weaves a complex and visually beautiful tale of transformation and stagnation through the eyes of a mother and their child. L’immensitá is tender yet bold and fantastical yet raw, resulting in a stunning portrait of a family in crisis, a mother seeking escape, and a teenager emerging from the cocoon of childhood, transformed.
The setting is Rome circa 1970 for Emanuele Crialese’s beautiful and haunting exploration of dysfunctional family life, transformation and yearning, L’immensitá. Clara (the exquisite Penélope Cruz) is a loving mother who is unwilling to ignore that her husband, Felice, has been cheating on her for some time. Yet, Clara’s escape from her unhappiness seems impossible without losing her children.
At the same time, her eldest child, Adri or Andrew (Luana Giuliani), is seeking a sense of belonging and meaning in a changing internal and external environment. While Adri questions, “What’s more important: What’s on the inside, or what’s on the outside?” Clara’s mental health reaches a crisis point, and the family is plunged into darkness.
L’immensitá Trailer
Adri escapes the world around them through flamboyant flights of musical fantasy, recreating TV performances with their family in starring roles. These musical interludes add light and texture to Adri’s internal world as they attempt to navigate identity, belonging, place and purpose in a fractured adult world of arguments, unhappiness and domestic control.
Their mother, Clara, is childlike in her commitment to Adri and their siblings, Gino and Diana. While Adri loves Clara’s childlike playfulness, they also need their mother to be an adult and to reject the misery she endures at the hands of their domineering, entitled father. Here, Crialese paints a fascinating portrait of a mother fighting for change and a teenager seeking an inner peace they can’t yet name.
Emanuele Crialese weaves a complex and visually beautiful tale of transformation and stagnation through the eyes of a mother and their child. L’immensitá is tender yet bold and fantastical yet raw, resulting in a stunning portrait of a family in crisis, a mother seeking escape, and a teenager emerging from the cocoon of childhood, transformed.
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