25/07/2025 - Toplined by Barbara Ronchi and Roschdy Zem, the Italian director’s fourth feature film has been selected for the Golden Lion competition

After The Interval [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leonardo Di Costanzo
film profile] (selected in the Orizzonti line-up and awarded the Fipresci Prize and the David di Donatello trophy for Best New Director) and The Inner Cage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leonardo Di Costanzo
film profile] (screening out of competition and the winner of two Davids), Leonardo di Costanzo is returning to the Venice International Film Festival - in competition this time round - with his new movie, Elisa. Produced by Carlo Cresto-Dina and Manuela Melissano on behalf of tempesta and Rai Cinema, in co-production with Michela Pini and Amel Soudani for Amka Films Productions (Switzerland), the Neapolitan director’s fourth feature stars Barbara Ronchi (awarded a David di Donatello for Settembre [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and nominated via Kidnapped [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and this year via Familia [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), French actor Roschdy Zem (named Best Actor in Cannes for Days of Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean Bréhat
interview: Rachid Bouchareb
film profile], awarded a César for Oh Mercy! [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud Desplechin
film profile] and recently seen in 13 Days, 13 Nights [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Diego Ribon (A Fantastic World) and Valeria Golino (the winner of two Volpi Cups in Venice and four David di Donatello trophies, and recently seen in Fuori [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mario Martone
film profile]).

The screenplay was penned by Di Costanzo himself, alongside Bruno Oliviero and Valia Santella. Elisa is loosely based on studies by and conversations between criminologists Adolfo Ceretti and Lorenzo Natali appearing in the essay Io volevo ucciderla. Thirty-five-year-old Elisa has been in prison for ten years, convicted for having killed her older sister and burnt her body for no apparent reason. She claims to remember little to nothing about her crime, as if she’d built up a wall of silence between her and her past. But when she decides to meet criminologist Alaoui and take part in his research, embarking on a tense and inexorable exchange, her memories begin to take shape and, amidst the pain of fully accepting her culpability, Elisa finds she might be able to take the first step towards potential redemption.

“This film was born out of a line of thought initiated in The Inner Cage and which we’ve pushed in a more intimate and disconcerting direction: not focusing on the crime itself but on the inner journey of the person who committed it”, Di Costanzo explains. “In Elisa, I tried to convey the complexity of a person who’s capable of pain, coldness and manipulation, but who ultimately has a very human need to be heard. The aim is for the film to ask more questions than it answers and to create that same ethical and emotional confusion which guided my approach during the writing and directing process”.

Elisa‘s photography comes courtesy of Luca Bigazzi (awarded 7 David di Donatello trophies, not least for The Great Beauty [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile]), while editing was entrusted to Carlotta Cristiani (Silvio Soldini, Laura Bispuri and Di Costanzo’s trusty collaborator). The movie was made in co-production with RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera with backing from the Italian Film and Audiovisual Investment Development Fund, the Ufficio federale della cultura (UFC) and IDM Film Commission Südtirol, and was developed with support from the Emilia-Romagna Film Commission and the Ticino Film Commission.

World sales are entrusted to RAI Cinema International Distribution while distribution in Italy falls to 01 Distribution.

(Translated from Italian)