Rome IFF: That Summer, a film of innocence and experience
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The small, unpretentious Italian production That Summer is one of the two Italian films in the Alice in the Cities (Alice nella città) sidebar at the Rome Film Festival, currently underway. The section presents films aimed at viewers between the ages of eight and 17.
That Summer, directed by debuting director Guendalina Zampagni, takes place during the season of the title in and around the Tuscan country house of a Roman family. The family of father Vittorio and mother Marinella arrive later than usual, because of Vittorio’s recent health problems.
The couple’s marriage is going through a rough patch and their offspring is too. 21-year-old Eleonora just had her own first child of an unknown father, and 15-year-old Matteo looks forward to seeing the beautiful Fiorenza again.
Though the film maintains a wide-eyed sense of innocence throughout, it deals with heavy subjects such as extramarital affairs, single motherhood and – at least as complicated – adolescent growing pains.
The film’s cast includes veterans Alessandro Haber and Pamela Villoresi as the parents, French actress Diane Fleri and singer-turned-actor Jacopo Troiani as their children, and Michele Cesari and Alessandro Bertolucci as two locals interested in Eleonora.
The film was produced by Barcelona Entertainment and Seven Hills Productions, with backing from the Toscana Film Commission. The film does not yet have an Italian distributor.
Boyd van Hoeij cineuropa.org