06/02/2024 - Daniele Luchetti has once again reworked a brilliant novel by Domenico Starnone, but the final result is shaky, to say the least

Esteemed professor Pietro Vella (Elio Germano) reveals a terrible secret to a former student of his, young Teresa Quadraro (Federica Rosellini), forging a life-long bond between the two. It’s an unspeakable secret which has the potential to destroy the man’s life. After they go their separate ways, however, their bond somehow persists, even in the wake of Pietro’s professional success and his marriage to professor Nadia Labaro (Vittoria Puccini).

This is the premise – simple but intriguing enough – of Daniele Luchetti’s new feature film Trust [+see also:
trailer
interview: Daniele Luchetti
film profile], which was presented in the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Big Screen Competition. Once again, Luchetti has adapted a work by Domenico Starnone and is telling another tale set in the world of school.

The story spans the 1990s and the present, continually jumping around in time, but, ultimately, the film fails to capitalise on the considerable potential of the subject.

To begin with, the film’s acting performances are generally uninspired and plagued by a common ailment in Italian film acting, especially when we’re dealing with middle-class dramas: mumbled lines. At certain points, the audience genuinely struggles to follow the dialogue.

For his part, Germano at least partially succeeds in conveying the complexity required of his character. In fact, his role is the most developed on paper. But Federica Rosellini’s performance falls flat, bound to an angry and obsessive tone from the beginning of the film right on through to the end, leaving little room for the character to grow and evolve.

For class of ’89 Rosellini, in particular – and the other actors too, to a lesser degree – the film’s make-up does absolutely nothing to enhance her character’s credibility. In the scenes set in the ‘90s (where the woman in question is supposed to be somewhere between 18 and 30 years old), she looks pretty much the same all the time, aka the actress’s actual age. In the section set in the present, meanwhile, she almost looks the same age as Germano, when the two of them are supposed to display a 20-year age gap.

The pace, in the first half of the film, is pretty sustained, but it slows down decisively in the second part with the arrival of two new characters (played by Isabella Ferrari and Giordano De Plano), who are poised to further upset the already-precarious balance between Nadia and Pietro. At this point, the film slides into tired cliches on the subject of extramarital relationships, dysfunctional families and frustrations at approaching middle age.

Another issue is the film’s aesthetic choices, some of which seem somewhat outdated or decidedly unoriginal. There’s the unexpected nosebleed at Pietro’s wedding, or the recurring presence of lemons and a black raven in the surrounds of the Vella’s house, hinting far too obviously at future dramatic twists.

By contrast, the wind instruments and percussion featuring in the soundtrack composed by Thom Yorke - sometimes reminiscent of funeral marches and processions - fit well with the story’s sombre mood, fostering a sense of angst and worry among viewers.

The final sequence dives headlong into a grotesque and disturbing tone. It’s not a misguided idea by any means; on the contrary, it offers potential for the film to end in an unpredictable way. Its realisation, however, is far too chaotic in terms of mise en scene and editing, which risks elliciting reactions wholly incongruous with the authors’ intentions.

Trust is an Italian production courtesy of Indiana Production and Vision Distribution. The latter are also responsible for international sales.

(Translated from Italian)