L’immensita – Film Review
by Frank L

Director Emanuele Crialese
Writers Emanuele Crialese, Francesca Manieri, Vittorio Moroni
Stars Penélope Cruz, Vincenzo Amato, Luana Giuliani

This film is an insight into a well-heeled family consisting of Clara (Penelope Cruz), her husband Felice (Vincenzo Amato) and three kids in Rome during the 1970s. While the family apartment is up-market it lies close to some scrubland which contains substantial reeds which mask a different world, namely that of an immigrant encampment. The eldest child Adriana (Luana Giuliani) is already identifying himself as a trans boy Adri. Clara is a full-time Mum and she enjoys her children which is made clear from an early scene where the setting of a table for a meal, usually a rather dreary task, is transformed into a song and dance routine by Clara and the three kids. However, despite this dominant sense of fun, Adri is on a journey of discovery and he finds himself exploring the reeds and the encampment. There he discovers Sara (Penelope Nieto Conti) a young girl of similar age who accepts Adri as a boy. Meanwhile, Felice shows himself to be an unsympathetic father to Adri and an unfaithful husband to Clara. While we see these series of events around the family, it would be difficult to describe it as a cohesive plot.

Notwithstanding the lack of an overall plot, Giuliani gives an outstanding performance as Adri. She treads the narrow path of someone transitioning. That this is set in the seventies when transitioning was not part of the contemporary dialogue, the film is remarkable. That may be due to the fact Crialese himself came out as a trans man in 2022. Giuliani faces and conquers the challenge of playing a trans teenager. A substantial achievement made even more impressive by the presence of Cruz as the mother. While inevitably Cruz is often dominant Giuliani’s nuanced performance makes for a realistic relationship. The complexities created by Crialese are heightened as Clara is a Spanish woman married to a difficult Italian man. It is a complex family dynamic. The other two children Gino (Patrizio Francioni) and Diana (Maria Chiara Goretti) bring a strong sense of normality to proceedings and are splendidly adventurous, fun-loving kids. They are a ballast of normality to this fractured family.

There are various dance sequences that are viewed through a black and white television of the period. They are metaphors for escape. Both Adri and Clara face the need to escape for very different reasons.

Crialese has created an affectionate view of a dysfunctional family where there is a great deal of marital and teenage angst but there is also a great deal of joy. It does not entirely hold together but there are so many good things in it, it is well worth a visit.