As she gears up to sign her name to another two comedies which are about to be released on Prime Video (Ancora più sexy, which she directed, and Natale senza babbo, which she wrote), the unstoppable Michela Andreozzi is returning to the big screen with her sixth feature-length directorial effort, Unicorni [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], which is hitting cinemas on 18 July via Vision Distribution, following its premiere on 17 July in the opening slot of the 55th Giffoni Film Festival. The popular comedy actress who has previously directed films and written screenplays such as Nine ½ Moons [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], Good Goals [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] and Genitori vs Influencer [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], is once again homing in on modern family problems, specifically the difficulties experienced by parents grappling with their children’s gender dysphoria, and poking fun at both toxic masculinity and the excesses of woke culture.

“In every family, there’s one person who steers the others’ emotional tone”, writer Michela Murgia would say. In this instance, it’s Blu (newcomer Daniele Scardini), a 9-year-old child who loves wearing his hair long and dressing as a girl. His father Lucio (Edoardo Pesce) and mother Elena (Valentina Lodovini), who are both progressive, inclusive and broad minded – going so far as to form a perfect extended family with Lucio’s first wife, played by Donatella Finocchiaro, and their eldest teenage daughter, Viola Gabriele – only allow Blu to wear girls’ clothes when he’s at home to avoid people making fun of him. But when Blu insists on wearing the Little Mermaid costume for the school play in front of everyone, Lucio and Elena realise they’re not ready (Lucio especially) to indulge their son’s preferences, and end up turning to a psychologist (played by Andreozzi herself) who guides them and various other parents of “unicorns” - who are as different and special as the mythical animals themselves - on a journey of acceptation which is less predictable than they’d imagined.

Unicorni is a dramedy for youngsters, which is educational when explaining the different nuances of gender diversity, empathic when exploring the fears and uncertainties of parents who are torn between their protective instincts and their desire for their children to quite simply be happy, and witty when poking fun at chauvinism – embodied here by Lino Musella, who, amongst other endeavours, convinces Lucio to get his son Blu involved in more testosterone-fuelled activities in order to “straighten him out” – or mocking political correctness at all costs. In minor yet impactful roles, special mentions should go to Thony, playing the conservative mother with a sharp tongue, and Paola Tiziana Cruciani, in the shoes of the headteacher who would sooner be doing anything than managing the firestorm of the controversial school play just a few days ahead of her retirement.

A film about being free to express ourselves, which should put quite a few Italian politicians’ noses out of joint in these current climes and which consequently feels like a welcome act of resistance, Unicorni is an Italian-Spanish co-production by Paco Cinematografica, Vision Distribution and Neo Art Producciones, made with the support of Lazio Region - Lazio Cinema International (a project co-funded by the European Union). The movie was made with the help of GenderLens, an association founded in Italy with the aim of providing support for and information about gender variance in childhood, which is primarily geared towards parents and educators in schools.