Cristina Comencini: The world in Black and White
The end of August will mark the end of the 10-week shoot of Black and White, Cristina Comencini’s return to comedy after the success (and Oscar nomination) of Don’t Tell [+see also:
trailer
film profile].
Shot entirely in Rome, the film will be released in January 2008 by 01 Distribution. It is being produced by Cattleya and RAI Cinema on a €5.1m budget.
After delving into the subject of incestuous paedophilia in her previous film, Comencini here tackles another taboo: the mutual clichés that taint relations between black and white people. She does so using comic tones (the same of her film Liberati i pesci, which ridiculed Mafia stereotypes), at the risk of seeming politically incorrect.
The film (scripted by the director with her daughter Giulia Calenda and Maddalena Ravagli) intertwines the lives of two couples: Elena and Carlo (he is egotistical, she champion of integration), and Nadine and Bertrand (Elena’s co-worker). The story’s centres around the attraction between Nadine and Carlo: their bond will unveil clichés, turning the convictions of the characters and spectators upside down.
Having come about from a trip to shoot Il nostro Rwanda (which will be at the upcoming RomeFilmFest), Black and White stars Ambra Angiolini (winner of a David di Donatello for Ferzan Ozpetek’s Saturno Contro) and Fabio Volo as Elena and Carlo. They are flanked by overbearing mothers: the soprano Katia Ricciarelli (who was launched in cinema by Pupi Avati’s The Fever [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and
La seconda notte di nozze [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Anna Bonaiuto.
Aissa Maiga plays Nadine: the Senegalese actress, who previously appeared in Michael Haneke’s Hidden [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Margaret Menegoz
interview: Michael Haneke
film profile], was nominated for a César as the young bride in Bamako. Bertand is being played by Lumumba lead Eriq Ebouaney.
With regards to similarly themed films, Comencini remembers Damien O'Donnell’s East is East and few other titles. “This is why I’m happy to be in the film,” said Maiga, “as an actress and as a woman”. As to why the subject is being dealt with in Italy before even in France (where mixed race marriages are more common than anywhere else), Ebouaney responded citing his father’s words: “Italians are the Africans of Europe”.
(Translated from Italian)
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