On the eve of receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, Luigi Pirandello embarks on a train journey to Stockholm. This trip becomes a labyrinthine reflection on the people and events that shaped his art and personal life, as portrayed in Michele Placido's biopic Eternal Visionary [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film]. Following the Rome Film Fest’s screening of Roberto Andò’s fictionalised biopic-comedy Strangeness [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] – a playful reimagining of the origin of Pirandello’s magnum opus, Six Characters in Search of an Author – the festival presents a more conventional take on the playwright’s life.

The film begins with Pirandello (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) receiving the news that his muse, Marta, will not be accompanying him to the Nobel ceremony. This disappointment triggers a Rosebud-like moment, sparking a series of reminiscences about his life. Early on, we learn that his seemingly idyllic family life was disrupted by his wife Maria Antonietta Portulano's (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) erratic behaviour, which borders on psychosis. While the initial implication is that her condition stems from the conscription of their eldest son, it soon becomes apparent that it is rooted in the flooding of the sulphur mines in Aragona, where many, including children, perished. Placido, along with co-writer Toni Trupia, touches on these significant events, which mark turning points in Pirandello’s life. Although the catastrophe itself is never shown, Pirandello later visits the mine with his troupe of actors, a moment where he reminisces about his father’s expectation that he would one day become the bookkeeper for the family mining business.

The movie follows Pirandello’s journey towards the staging of Six Characters in Search of an Author and the acclaim it garnered. The story, however, is intertwined with his personal relationships – particularly with his wife Maria, who is largely absent from the story as she is confined to an asylum, and his muse, Marta Abba (Federica Vincenti), who provided him with inspiration, emotional refuge and, later, self-pity owing to the platonic nature of the relationship. These two women represent distinct facets of Pirandello's life: his family, fragmented and distanced, and his professional life, which serves as a source of fulfilment. With Maria absent, the film relegates family life to sporadic encounters with his adult children, who are each pursuing their own paths. These occasional reunions at the family home highlight the personal turmoil Pirandello faced, which ultimately fuelled his artistic expression, blurring the line between reality and fiction.

Placido’s film offers a comprehensive depiction of the playwright's personal struggles and professional triumphs, making Pirandello accessible even to those unfamiliar with his work – an approach that enhances the film’s international appeal. At a running time of 112 minutes, Eternal Visionary condenses the writer's life into a dynamic, non-linear narrative that spans locations such as Rome, Stockholm, Sicily, Milan and Berlin between 1920 and 1936, briefly touching on an episode in the protagonist’s nascent cinematic career.

Eternal Visionary adopts an introspective approach, with Pirandello’s life story framed through his own perspective, reflecting the convergence of memory and artistic creation that defined his work. In this way, Placido’s Pirandello becomes an unreliable narrator of his own life, selectively recalling certain moments while omitting others, one of the omissions being his relationship with Fascist leader Benito Mussolini, thus glossing over historical and political contexts. However, the tone is occasionally disrupted by misplaced hallucinatory sequences, such as the unsettling image of faces emerging from the wall during one of Pirandello’s intense bouts of writing, in what is otherwise a depiction of his life that remains faithful to historical realism.

Eternal Visionary was produced by Goldenart Production and RAI Cinema in co-production with GapBusters. Pulsar Content handles its international sales.