07/09/2012 - Based on the novel by the same day of actor, director and screenwriter Claudio Bigagli, Un giorno special by Francesca Comencini is the third Italian film in competition in Venice

Based on the novel by the same day of actor, director and screenwriter Claudio Bigagli, Un giorno speciale by Francesca Comencini is the third Italian film in this year’s edition of the venice Film Festival [+see also:
trailer
interview: Filippo Scicchitano and Giu…
interview: Francesca Comencini
film profile].

Nineteen year-old Gina has an important appointment this morning. She is a girl from a working class neighbourhood in the eastern outskirts of Rome. She would like to become an actress and is given the opportunity to meet a politician who can help her break into the entertainment world. She has no false expectations. She knows from experience that if you are good-looking, there is always something expected in exchange for something else. And that something generally has something to do with sex.

It is her mother who is pushing her to live the dream she was not able to live. For the occasion, she has given her daughter fifteen centimetre heeled golden shoes and an evening gown. “You are as beautiful as a goddess,” she tells her.

Here comes the dark BMW of the honourable man to take her to her meeting. Her driver is as young as she is. He also comes from a working class neighbourhood. It is his first day on the job. He is nice and a little ingenuous. When, during the journey, he receives a phone call from the secretary telling him the appointment is going to have to be postponed, the two take a trip to the city centre, which will make them close and push them to share their desires and bitterness.

Based on the novel by the same name by actor, director and screenwriter Claudio Vigagli, Un giorno speciale by Francesca Comencini is the third Italian film in competition in Venice. Produced on a small budget by Palomar di Carlo degli Esposti, its photography by Luca Bigazzi is spectacular. Bigazzi was also behind the photography in L’intervallo (selected in the Horizons section of the festival) by Leonardo Di Costanzo. Although different in substance, the intentions in L'intervallo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leonardo Di Costanzo
film profile] were similar to this film’s: to tell a story – emblematic in our times – of two youngsters dreaming of a better future and having to deal with a grownup’s world, with its distorted practices, its insidious charms, its attractions, its indifference and its cynicism.

A tale, reminiscent of so many real stories taking place in front of our very eyes, of our times as producer Degli Esposti puts it, speaking of “radioactive clouds which are still hanging over our heads,” alluding to the Berlusconi era. A film on beauty treated as a transactional good, the director underlines, who is also one of the promoters of the “Se non ora quando?” movement, born over a year ago to reclaim dignity and respect for women. It is against the naked portrayal of women as sexual objects, presented in newspapers, on television and in advertising campaigns as commodities. But in the film, this is expressed through clichés which trivialise the theme, and the script reveals a lack of understanding of young people living in the outskirts of cities.

(Translated from Italian)