A story and the empty nest syndrome in Anna Foglietta's film The work was presented at Venezia83 in the Orizzonti section. The cast includes Alba Rohrwacher and Guido Caprino

To the long list of actors who become directors is added Anna Foglietta, behind the camera for the film A Story, selected to compete for Orizzonti during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival. For the screenplay, he asks Tania Pedroni and Matteo Ferri for help, with whom he writes about a family whose daily life soon becomes cumbersome when his daughter leaves a large space moving out of the house to go to study.

The empty nest syndrome in the movie A Story

It is the empty nest syndrome that would like to put the film at the center and that encompasses the discomfort of the protagonist of Alba Rohrwacher, in the role of a cashier who had few goals in life, the most important of which suddenly disappeared from her days. Supporting her is her husband played by Guido Caprino, who maintains the gradual abandonment of his wife and her sinking into an existence that seems to have lost its orientation. A man who, in turn, will have his own difficulties to face, such as a toxic relationship with a father to whom, fortunately, he is nothing like.

A story, the portrait of a couple according to Anna Foglietta in Venice83

Soon A Story becomes the portrait of a couple whose gestures they shared until then begin to be emptied: preparing a doughnut, saying goodbye in the morning, fixing a collar not because it was out of place, but as a sign of affection. The loss faced by the protagonist Erika (Rohrwacher) ends up dictating the rhythm of the family relationship as well as that of the narrative, a bit too ritual, with topics treated in a not so thorough way. Symptoms such as depression or frustration, in real life, may appear from one day to the next, but in the grammar of a story they need to be elaborated; not explained didascalically, but dug into the character's interior.

The portrait of Erika and the complexities of the story

In fact, Erika shouldn't be missing anything. When the fundamental piece of his whole (his daughter) fails, then he begins to put everything into perspective. A consequence that, as described, seems slightly forced, reserving the right to travel into the intimate territories of a character who cannot explain well even to himself what he is going through, let alone if he is able to make it clear to the spectators.

The interpretations of Alba Rohrwacher and Guido Caprino

Alba Rohrwacher is empathetic to her protagonist. She has understood it and manages to make it move in the precarious balance that sees her constantly repeating her days, perhaps looking not only for something new, but for the very need to experiment. But, as in the screenplay, even his performance remains too on the surface. His is an interpretation that he would like to give more but, in the end, he remains more or less immobile. Supporting her, however, is a supportive Guido Caprino, whose character must face his crosses and a wife whose dissatisfaction he finds incomprehensible. A character who, despite being on the same wavelength as Erika, seems to have enjoyed more attention in the writing phase, which is paradoxical given the feminine point of view that the story wants to put at the center.

Anna Foglietta's directorial debut in Venezia83

Both in the title and in its content, therefore, A Story remains anonymous, more with the aim of immediately capturing something that may be common to many (especially many) instead of wanting to be original. This is reflected in a story of the self that, however, should have allowed the protagonist to evolve more, for a work that takes enormous care of her, despite not being able to focus on it as it should, and falling into clichés that should have been avoided.