Vermiglio

Vermiglio, Italian writer-director Maura Delpero’s Venice Grand Jury Prize-winning second feature, is an understated yet utterly compelling war-time drama of family secrets and the pursuit of love.

Set amidst the backdrop of war-stricken Europe in the remote mountainous village of Vermiglio, the film tracks the lives of the Graziadei family. At its head the patriarchal Cesare (Tommaso Ragno), a local teacher whose education grants him standing as a philosophical community leader, and his wife Adele (Roberta Rovelli), a stern but protective mother who has endured ten childbirths and lost several of her children due to the frugal nature of their existence. Eldest son Dino (Patrick Gardner), a capable but rash adolescent, yearns for recognition but is more often subject to much of his father’s scorn due to his insurmountable differences from the academic Cesare. Siblings Ada (Rachele Potrich) and Flavia (Anna Thaler) compete, with surprising amiability, for the opportunity to attend school in the city for which Cesare, despite his wife’s protests, can only afford to send one away to. When the eldest of the Graziadei children Lucia (Martina Scrinzi) catches the eye of stoic newcomer Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico), a military deserter a long way from his home in Sicily, events begin to unfold that will forever impact the lives of the Graziadei family.

Tommaso Ragno delivers a standout performance as the overbearing father who is struggling to maintain the facade of the self-perceived importance of his status within the town of Vermiglio, while Rachele Potrich excels as the conflicted yet devout Christian daughter Ada who routinely drafts increasingly absurd self-inflicted punishments to atone for her burgeoning sexual desires. Potrich, alongside Carlotta Gamba as the troublesome village girl “Virginia”, form a brief but captivating dynamic that is as tender and heartbreaking as any of the film’s darkest moments.

With breathtaking cinematography from the lens of Mikhail Krichman, Delporo juxtaposes the vastness of the Italian mountainside with the cramped confines of the Graziadei household where the Italian writer-director expertly crafts a sense of heightening claustrophobia. For all the jaw-dropping imagery and grandeur of the mountain setting at its disposal, Vermiglio instead lavishes in its minimalism: Delporo directs our gaze toward tight close-ups of the daily lives of the Graziadei’s, from Flavia’s spying on her father from under his desk to Lucia and Pietro’s romantic escapes to the tattered village stables, and it becomes clear that, in the confined quarters of their family home, no secret can go undiscovered for long in the isolated village of Vermiglio.

A raw, heartfelt and sombre examination of life on the outskirts of war, Vermiglio is a unique perspective on the impact of lies and parental expectation on the family unit that’s filled with controlled direction, powerful performances and awe-inspiring photography that breathe life into the Italian mountainside.

Ronan Fawsitt

Vermiglio does not have a release date yet.

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the London Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for Vermiglio here: