An Italian coming-of-age film with Monica Bellucci and a production credit from Luca Guadagnino took the spotlight at the Locarno Film Festival last weekend. The film is called Ketticè, and it is the second feature from writer-director Giovanni Tortorici, who previously served as an assistant to Guadagnino.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ketticè premiered in Locarno on Saturday as part of the 79th edition of the festival. The film is set in Palermo, Sicily, in 2012, during the era of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. It centers on Giulio, a listless 16-year-old who drifts through school with no enthusiasm and no clear sense of his future. His life changes when he meets Ketty, a more confident girl from a different part of town, whose nickname in Sicilian dialect gives the film its title.
Bellucci plays Giulio's mother, a woman trapped inside the expectations of aristocratic Sicilian family life. During a press conference at Locarno, Bellucci described what drew her to the character. "It was interesting to play a different role because this wife and mother tells us about the frustration behind the entire perfection of society," she said. "She is the victim of a social role [she must play]. So she tries to counterbalance this frustration by eating up snacks. There [is a] scene where she's sleeping in front of the TV, and she has plenty of snacks."
Bellucci also spoke about how physical presence and voice shape the character. "This is a woman who forgot about her femininity. She doesn't take care of herself," she explained. "And when she talks, she yells." That dynamic produces ongoing friction with her son throughout the film. "She creates this constant tension with her son," Bellucci said. "There is a mutual humiliation that [shows] a true impossibility of exchange between generations. You see a generation of adults who can no longer understand the youth. And we are talking about 2012. Imagine how it is now!"
Tortorici was asked at the press conference about a scene in which a young character expresses admiration for Benito Mussolini. He explained that the scene came from his own life. "I remember I had a girlfriend who would say such things," he said. "So I think this would represent a youth culture, which is a bit absurd. I mean, the girl I knew was refined and educated, and then she would admire Mussolini. It's a reference to my own biography, but I think it was very symptomatic and significant, and it was representing that age of Berlusconi."
Variety's review of the film praised Tortorici's control of visual language, noting that the camera work shifts in ways that reflect the internal life of the teenage characters. In one sequence, after Giulio kisses his girlfriend, the camera sits low to make him look large. After he receives a breakup text, the angle shifts back to eye level. The review noted that the film's score draws on Lebanese singer Oumeima El Khalil and described comparisons to the soundtrack work associated with Guadagnino's films.
The film stars Salvatore Gallina as Giulio and Rachele Testagrossa as Ketty, both discovered through an extensive street casting process. Bellucci praised the young cast and the director. "It's been a wonderful experience being on this set," she said. Cinematography is by Camilla Cattabriga, with editing by Marco Costa. International sales are being handled by PiperPlay.
