Two women meet, walk a bit of the way together and then separate, a bit like when you take a taxi, in the new film by Ciro De Caro, Taxi Monamour [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
interview : Ciro De Caro
fiche film], the only Italian title in competition at the 21st Giornate degli Autori at the Venice Film Festival. After the much appreciated Giulia [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
interview : Ciro De Caro
fiche film], also presented at the Giornate in 2021, in the Venice Nights section, the director teams up again with Rosa Palasciano (who was nominated at the David di Donatello awards for her role in that film), who once again acts in the film and co-writes the script. The result is an admirable portrait of two young women at a crossroads, very different from each other but driven by the same impulse to go against the current, who for a brief moment unite their solitudes and spend some time together, before each going their own way, probably with no return.

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Anna (Rosa Palasciano) is sick but doesn’t intend to seek treatment. In fact, she keeps her illness a secret from everyone, including her weird family, composed of a mother always on the brink of collapse (Laurentina Guidotti), and two brothers, Angelo (the unmissable Valerio Di Benedetto) and Antonio (Matteo Quinzi), who are competing about which of the two actually had appendicitis as a child. For her part, Cristi (Ukrainian actress Yeva Sai, seen in the popular series The Sea Beyond) lives in Italy with her aunt, works as a carer for an old woman and can’t wait to go back to her country, despite the war, because the people she loves are in Ukraine. Her sad eyes meet those of Anna at the bus stop. The bus never arrives, and together they decide to accept a lift from two strangers. Thus begins the strange friendship between Anna and Cristi: the former takes the initiative and leads, the latter is more distrustful, and their interactions have a surreal quality that is at once amusing and uncomfortable.

The motif of the car ride will recur several times throughout this melancholy comedy, which once again demonstrates the simplicity and lightness with which De Caro approaches his marginal, slightly crooked characters. The chaotic family reunions and Anna’s exchanges with her brother Angelo, constantly seeking recognition, are little pearls of humour. The hand-held camera moves with fluidity in the environments and from one character to another, stopping on their listening faces, and the dialogues are spontaneous (but not improvised) and essential. Some important themes are also touched upon, such as war, illness and old age, but it is all played in subtraction. Taxi Monamour is a film that grows slowly, much like the strange feeling between the two protagonists. “Nous nous aimions le temps d’une chanson” (“we loved each other for the time of a song”) sings Serge Gainsbourg in what kind of becomes the catchphrase of the film, the song La Javanaise. A short moment that leaves its mark, much like this film that explodes unexpectedly, amazes and moves.

Taxi Monamour was produced by Kimerafilm in association with MFF and in collaboration with Rai Cinema and with Adler Entertainment. True Colours handles international sales.