06/09/2023 - VENICE 2023: Luca Barbareschi’s drama makes a clunky attempt to build up a cinematic discourse that rails against the meat grinder of the media, cancel culture and political correctness

Some of public opinion’s hottest topics and most controversial stances take centre stage in Luca Barbareschi’s latest endeavour, The Penitent – A Rational Man [+see also:
trailer
interview: Luca Barbareschi
film profile], playing out of competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The story, set entirely in New York and based on David Mamet’s play of the same name, follows a Jewish psychiatrist called Carlos Hirsch (Barbareschi), whose career and private life are suddenly turned upside down upon his refusal to testify on behalf of a young Latino patient (Fabrizio Ciavoni) who has murdered eight people.

We find out that the patient is a member of the LGBT community, and a printing error – unlikely to be unintentional – made by a newspaper editor who quoted some of the doctor’s previous writing on homosexuality attracts the attention of the media and that of the judicial system. Technically, Hirsch has committed no crime, but the psychiatrist faces a moral dilemma, as he takes refuge behind the Hippocratic Oath in order to defend himself against the interrogations, and is unwilling to give up his patient’s files in order not to betray them.

As it stands, the narrative premise is engaging, timely and original enough. What doesn’t work, however, are several directorial and staging choices. The film feels very much like a theatre play. There are basically no more than two or three characters acting in each scene, and most of them are set within rather claustrophobic interiors.

Unfortunately, overacting reigns throughout – it’s true that the situations the characters go through are extremely tense, but this actually results in us seeing them yelling and highlighting certain words most of the time. And even though Barbareschi is the real protagonist (and the one who should be the angriest), Catherine McCormack (who here plays his distraught wife) does a much more debatable job, imbuing her over-the-top interpretation with unbearable hysteria from beginning to end. Barbareschi chooses a more balanced approach, even though as the tension mounts, we come to realise the limits of his performance.

It’s a very verbose film, and most of the dialogues – in particular those between Barbareschi, his attorney Richard (Adam James) and the prosecutor (Adrian Lester) – may contain ideas and perspectives that are intellectually stimulating and interesting to dissect, regardless of whether one may agree or disagree with their stances. Their staging makes them look like cinematic versions of the Dialogues of Plato, and they are perhaps the most appealing – albeit hard to follow, and replete with repetitions and pompous figures of speech – parts of this film. In one particular monologue played by Barbareschi during the second half, there is also a more open attempt to criticise political correctness and cancel culture, but it feels more like a rant instead of a sub-theme that could trigger any action or conflict.

The closure of the narrative arc turns everything upside down once again. In summary, the whole picture seems like an attempted experiment which, at least on paper, had much more potential. The final result is clunky, and it may scarcely have any impact on the ongoing public debate.

The Penitent – A Rational Man is an Italian production staged by Eliseo Entertainment and RAI Cinema. Paris-based outfit Goodfellas is in charge of the feature’s world sales.