17/07/2003 - The latest feature from the director of Bread & Tulips is in production. The surreal Agata e la tempesta stars Licia Maglietta, Giuseppe Battiston & Emilio Solfrizzi

To combine the drama of Brucio nel vento [+see also:
trailer
film profile] with the intelligent light-hearted comedy of Bread & Tulips. That is the goal Italy’s Silvio Soldini has set himself when he embarked upon his latest feature, Agata e la tempesta (Agatha and the Storm).
The film is currently in production on location in and around Genoa and is the story of three people searching for a bit of peace and quiet. Agata is a woman in her forties struggling to get over a disastrous love story with a much younger man, Gustavo is an architect experiencing a life crisis, and – Agata believes – her brother, and Romeo is a bizarre individual torn between his love for his wife and his desire for sexual transgression. The storm referred to in the title of the film is the turbulence that Agata always leaves in her wake. It is physical to the degree that light bulbs explode when she enters a room.

Speaking during a break in filming, Soldini defined this film as being “out of time and space. Out of politics and a break from routine, but one that necessitates profound meditation.”

Produced by Albachiara and Mikado Film with a €4m budget, Agata e la tempesta reunites the winning team behind Soldini’s last hit, Bread & Tulips, the film that brought the director to the forefront of international attention and which won him numerous awards. Soldini cast Licia Maglietta as Agata, Giuseppe Battiston as Romeo and Emilio Solfrizzi as Gustavo, they are backed up by Marina Massironi and Claudio Santamaria and Agata e la tempesta is scheduled for a domestic release in February 2004.

(Translated from Italian)