02/09/2007

After Lake Maggiore in Hotel Meina, the Venice Film Festival takes one more dip in the muddy waters of another bloody deed, also committed near the scintillating mirror of a lake, but contrary to Carlo Lizzani's movie, inspired by a war story, The Girl by the Lake (La ragazza del lago) [+see also:
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film profile] (Critics' Week) is the adaptation of a novel, "Don’t Look Back" by Karin Fossum.

Greeted with five minutes of clapping, this debut by 40-year-old Andrea Molaioli (a late beginner who was the assistant of Nanni Moretti, Carlo Mazzacurati, and Mimmo Calopresti) sets the story of the book in the Friuli area and the alpine landscapes greatly contribute to making this movie a fascinating one, as does the initial search party, full of suspense, after the disappearance of little Marta – who is not the girl of the title, as Inspector Sanzio (and we) discovers.

We shan't reveal anything more on this deliberately suspense-less murder story: although it does deal with a homicide, it mostly reveals the existential anxiety of our times. It is not the murder story aspects of the film Molaioli is interested in, but the darkness of the characters' souls and the feelings of guilt that haunt the murderers. In this stagnant province reminding of Simenon's novels, people do not kill for money, nor for the same reasons as the abject bourgeoisie depicted by Claude Chabrol. The French maestro, who confesses to having seen the movie, finds the Roman director's work "compelling, even unconsciously".

The Girl by the Lake, written by Sandro Petraglia, disregards classical tensions to describe the universal grief which unites victims and torturers, murderers and detectives. The staging is very controlled, maybe a little too much, but the cast gathers first-rank actors, even in cameo roles, from Toni Servillo (as an undercover cop) to Fabrizio Gifuni, Anna Bonaiuto Omero Antonutti, and Valeria Golino.

This feature was produced by Indigo Film (also screening the documentary Bianciardi! in Venice) in collaboration with Medusa Film (also handling distribution), The Girl by the Lake will be released in Italy on September 14.

(Translated from Italian)