"The suggestions are Fellini-esque also with regards to the loss of innocence, but essentially it is a film dialogue between an American diva of the fifties forced to please male expectations and a girl, Mimosa, who is instead invited to be obstinately itself and not to depend on the gaze of men. However, not a nostalgic film".
Director Saverio Costanzo talks about his film Finally l'alba in Rome, already in competition in Venice and now in cinemas, in a shorter version of around thirty minutes, from 14 February in 300 copies distributed by 01.
"Those cuts made to the film - underlines the director - were already inside me. I discovered it when I saw it in Venice together with the public, I felt that they could help this work of mine".
A metaphor for the hidden strength of the pure of heart, the film (which cost 28 million euros) is set in the 1950s and tells the story of a young Roman commoner, Mimosa (
Rebecca Antonacci
), who arrives in Cinecittà to accompany her 'beautiful' sister. ' Iris (
Sofia Panizzi
), and is unexpectedly involved in the film as an extra.
The girl then finds herself involved in a glamorous evening together with the 'unreachable' Hollywood legends of the time such as Josephine Esperanto (
Lily James
) and Sean Lockwood (
Joe Keery
from Stranger Things), protagonists of the Hollywood peplum set in Egypt.
Together with the art dealer Rufus Priori (
Willem Dafoe
), Mimosa finds herself first in a restaurant on the Roman coast and then in a sumptuous party in a noble palace in Capocotta, where together with champagne and cocaine she also meets an Italian star like Alida Valli ( played by
Alba Rohrwacher
).
Here she is the favorite victim of Esperanto's whims, but she is also the object of the erotic attention of the handsome Sean Lockwood.
A real initiation for Mimosa who, as a lamb, discovers that she can be a lion.
"My character of Josephine Esperanto is very modern and human - says Lily James -. She thus finds herself loving the purity and truth that she finds in Mimosa while she must continually wear a mask to continue to maintain power. To prepare me - she adds - I've seen many films by Joan Crawford, Betty Davis and also Monica Vitti."
"It's true - says Joe Keery - just like the character I play in the film, sometimes I ask myself if I'm a mediocre actor. It's something that ultimately works well. How to go from Stranger Things to Fargo? It's the vision of director who can make you become anyone."
For Rebecca Antonacci the most difficult thing in making Mimosa instead: "was removing the judgment from her eyes towards her parents".
For Alba Rohrwacher, competing with Alida Valli was: "a way to pay homage to her. And in any case it is she in the film who is the first to understand Mimosa's authenticity and warn her".
"In my small way - says Sofia Panizzi - as Mimosa's sister I am the other side of the coin. However, she has a marked path, while Iris still has a dream that she is unable to carry forward. My reference - she concludes - was Beautiful by Visconti".
Finally, Alba takes place, not surprisingly, on 8 April 1953, on the eve of the death of the aspiring actress Wilma Montesi which occurred in circumstances that are still mysterious today and which the film mentions several times.
Finally, the producers Mario Gianani and Paolo Del Brocco reply to those who ask for confirmation of the monstrous budget of 28 million euros.
For Gianani of Wildside: "Finally dawn has all the parameters with which cinema is made. Things done well cost money, there is no inflation."
Paolo Del Brocco from 01 is of the same opinion: "It is a film that is aimed at a wider market, a film that will last over time. I believe that the public is tired of simple stories, but today wants more complex stories with multiple reading levels ".
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA