08/09/2022 - VENICE 2022: We chatted with the Italian director about his choice of black and white for the film, and singer Elodie’s acting debut

(© La Biennale di Venezia/Foto ASAC/Giorgio Zucchiatti)

Competing within the 79th Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti section, Pippo Mezzapesa's Burning Hearts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pippo Mezzapesa
film profile] revolves around a feud between two families from Gargano in Apulia, which is reignited following a forbidden affair between Andrea and Marilena, the beautiful wife of a mob boss. Singer Elodie makes her acting debut as the film’s lead. We discussed the movie with its director.

Cineuropa: The film is inspired by Carlo Bonini and Giuliano Foschini’s book of the same name. How did you transpose it on screen?
Pippo Mezzapesa: I’d already worked on documentary projects with Giuliano Foschini. He and Carlo Bonini got me to read their book when it was still in draft form, before it was published. Their book is a precise and timely analysis of the whole mafia phenomenon in Gargano, divided into various chapters telling various stories. One of these chapters tells the story of the first female informer from Gargano’s mafia, a story which already caught my interest many years earlier when I’d read about it in the papers. So we found ourselves sharing an interest in this story and I talked myself into embracing the project and taking it to Nicola Giuliano of Indigo Film in order to get the production wheels in motion.

Did the book’s authors contribute to the screenplay?
The screenplay was written by me and Davide Serino, but they were always in the background, and they even offered us access to their sources. First and foremost, they allowed us to meet the informer herself. Meeting her gave us various ideas for storylines, over and above what was written in the book; it gave us access to her psychological dynamics. Obviously, when creating such a complex character and a story which has so many twists and turns, it doesn’t seem real; you have to immerse yourself in real life and meet the people who have experienced this particular tragedy.

You shot the film in black and white. What led you to make this particular aesthetic choice?
The film’s [Italian] title, Ti mangio il cuore [translation: “I’ll Eat Your Heart”] can be interpreted in two totally different ways. It could be read as a savage death threat or a sensual, loving proposition. I think this contrast is at the heart of all the choices I made for this film. From the outset, I pictured this story in black and white, with its many contrasts, its powerfully strong colours and its undeniably opposing souls; a story which revolves around passion but also vendetta, blood and death. We started to live in black and white, for months we watched everything in black and white. I think that, subconsciously, we also wanted to make the story universal, to distance ourselves from the geographical context and lend the film an epic feel. And, last but not least, we wanted to lend uniformity to all the passages of time in the film, rather than lending a sense of progression to the story. This is a film about the inevitability of evil. Even the final frame, which leaves room for hope, also warns us to be careful: the roots of evil are hard to eradicate!

And you also chose Elodie as your protagonist, who isn’t a professional actress.
The notion of contrasts, playing with the various souls in the story, led me to come to a brave decision, which was trusting in Elodie. To begin with, it was a purely instinctive choice. I wanted someone who was able to dialogue with the public. I’ve shot films with actors who I’ve found in the street, but I’d grown a bit tired of this anonymity. I wanted someone who could carry the film and who people would recognise on the poster. I’d seen Elodie on TV and I thought I’d give it a go, like they do in American films. Elodie is a shamelessly sensual and devastatingly beautiful pop singer, but she also has her own fragility, she can be emotional. So she was the perfect reflection of how the character’s two sides should be. It was a genuinely unique directing experience because she studied and grew close to the character in a very professional manner.

You’ve mentioned universality. In your opinion, does the film have distribution potential in other countries?
I think so. It revolves around love, death and vendetta, animality and carnality. It’s a modern-day Romeo and Juliet set in a fascinating context. It features archetypal characters and themes which I believe would be of interest to all audiences.

(Translated from Italian)