User Reviews

If you liked "Ricordati di me" and "La meglio gioventu'" you will probably also like "La bestia nel cuore". If, on the other hand, you found it painful to watch those films, both because they are so bad "in assoluto" but also because you can only feel distraught at how far they have fallen from the masterpieces of Italian cinema, then "La bestia nel cuore" is not for you. "La bestia nel cuore" has the same melodramatic dialogue and plot, the same soap-operatic style of acting (Alessio Boni, who is in this one and also in "La meglio gioventu'" is the worst offender), the same mawkish musical score (strings abound), the same uninspired direction (according to the standard TV play-book), the same cast of bourgeois and petty bourgeois characters (each and every one self-absorbed and "antipatico").

The present cohort of young Italian actors and directors was the first generation to be raised and steeped in television, particularly in the very bad TV series imported from the US in the 70s and 80s—and it shows. But the explanation goes deeper. Italian cinema from the late 40s through the mid-80s was, at its best,a cinema that chronicled and portrayed the post-war crisis in Italian society, economy, politics, and mores. Its characters were at once fully fleshed out in psychological terms but also representative of and immersed in this crisis of Italian life. In a sense, their individual egos were the backdrop to that crisis, and the films had an edge and urgency to them (however light and comedic at times), because they spoke directly to the crisis.

The current spate of bad Italian cinema has reversed that relationship: Italian society is a mere backdrop to the crisis in individual psyches. And since the psychology here is strictly pop and 3rd rate, the resultant cinema is little more than pap and drivel. (Incidentally, Bertolucci's work is itself illustrative of this trajectory—and even Moretti's recent work, "Il caimano", a film nominally about Berlusconi, lapses into this kind of navel- gazing.)

One point of critical trivia that I cannot resist: Why should Daniele's child, born and raised in Charlottesville Virginia by an Italian father and an American mother speak with a British accent?

The vaguely titled DON'T TELL is a multi-layered story of repressions and the horrors of family secrets that threaten to explode at any moment -- a movie about pregnancy, both in a literal and figurative sense. With such a premise, this Italian movie should have been titled in English as "The Beast Within the Heart", which would have made more sense as it is what it is about. Sabina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), a name that brings to mind "The Rape of the Sabines" and to the dark heroine of the same name of Anais Nin's erotic masterpiece "Spy in the House of Love", is the name of the woman at the center of the story. She's a voice-over actress doing some dubbing work for a unnamed movie in which a female jogger gets raped by a sleaze-ball. Little does she know, the screams of help and resistance that she is acting out will become all too real when her decision to have a child suddenly opens the floodgates to dogs that were better off sleeping in their black caves.

It becomes clear that in order for Sabina to live a normal life -- if there is such a thing as "normal" -- she will have to face her inner pain instead of stifling it and further alienating herself from her friends and current boyfriend, a soap actor. A trip to the United States where she visits her brother Daniele (Luigi lo Cascio) further discloses not only the source of the pain, but its ramifications, and in a chilling scene, Daniele confesses not only his own trauma, but how he dealt with it, and how it left him a marked man. It's a very naked moment, and one that is in stark contrast to the torrent of emotion that Sabina has been experiencing, and one that leaves her hanging on a thread that threatens to snap at any moment.

As an extra touch, and one that doesn't seem to occur in American movies, DON'T TELL gives some its supporting characters their own lives by telling parallel stories that may not be central to the action but at least sheds some info on them. It's a technique that rounds the movie out quite well in parts but becomes rococo on others. It's almost as if director and writer Cristina Comencini loved the characters from her novel of the same name so much she wanted to include all of them in one movie, and while that's okay in an ensemble, this is a drama that focuses on one woman's road to her past, and becomes cinematic filler. It's as if Krysztoff Kieslzowski would have crammed the events of his TROIS COULEURS trilogy into one movie: it would have been too much, even when all three stories are inherently powerful.

On the upside of supporting characters, Sabina's gay best friend, Emilia (Stefaina Rocca), lives in isolation and is totally dependent on her due to her blindness. Sabina, however, decides to introduce her to Maria (Alessandra Finocchiaro), a friend and co-worker in the dubbing field, who's been separated from her husband and awakened to her own lesbianism. The scene where Emilia in her blindness reveals Maria's beauty is potent as it's simple and in a single shot, their attraction and seduction looks utterly beautiful. Their own relationship could spawn a movie in its own right, because it goes through its own shades of darkness that mirrors Sabina's, and is self contained.

On the downside, Sabina's boyfriend, Franco (Alessio Boni), has a storyline that should have terminated when she leaves to the US, but we continue to see him initiating an affair with another woman. The director of the soap opera where he works also gets more screen time than necessary, and his "comedic" presence is a little jolting to a story that is melodramatic. However, such things are a small complaint, because DON'T TELL (LA BESTIA NEL CUORE) is very moving at times and has a visual climax that brings back the past into the present in a seamless montage of vivid images.

OK, let me talk some sense about this movie:

1. This is Italian Drama at its worst 2. There are three different movies crammed into one 3. The narrative cues are typical of soap operas

There, I said it. And I know what I'm talking about since I'm from Brazil and we know all about soap operas.

This is not a great film, period. Put that in your head, Foreign Film judges.

It might have been a good episode (if heavily edited) of prime time TV, but it will NEVER be Oscar material.

First, let me digress about the script. As many of you will see, it's a mess from start to finish. The main topic (abuse / incest) has to share time with a struggling TV director and a some thoughts on lesbianism AND blindness at the same time. Can you guys see the SCOPE of all that? How are we supposed to follow all these very intense plot lines and still care for the main theme?

Well, the answer is simple. We can't. Soon the audience gets divided over plot lines and the main one never recovers. Since this is a scripting problem - mainly from the adaptation from a book, I'm sure - this would already be a major con for a serious drama.

Then we go to acting. The husband gives us the "theater speech" but all we see on screen is an impersonation of a caring husband. He never goes above TV level - just like what they are supposedly mocking. As for the main actress, she is good but her character soon loses steam and she has to rely on pre-fabricated "moments" to emote on. After a while, it gets plain boring.

We never get a feel for the lesbian/blind girl either. She is no more than a mental construct, a "moral in a person" that manages to shine in a couple moments and nothing more. A wasted character, I might say.

The older woman. She appears from nowhere, turns lesbian, says she's straight then proceeds to kiss the blind girl and disappears again.

I have to mention the music. All the cues come straight from a horror picture, making the horrific abuse almost funny. Less strings would be nice. Actually, less music in general would help the movie a lot.

Finally, the directing works really well sometimes. The movie has moments of greatness, of true emotion. It's unfortunate that it is so irregular - whole sequences are destroyed by badly selected shots and artificial mis-en-scene. Again, it gets funny when it shouldn't and many important plot points fall flat. This seems to be the work of a novice director, someone still getting to know the tools of the trade.

It could be so much better. 30 minutes less, it would be a competent drama. This is watchable for the most part - 70 minutes or so, I'd say - but gets irritating and over-extended close to the third act. As always, great intentions don't make a movie great.

I'll end this review saying that I'm stupefied over the Oscar nomination. I still can't put my mind around it and will have nightmares tonight, I bet.

Quite interestingly, this movie is based on a novel written by director Cristina Comencini herself. It is the story of Sabina (Mezzogiorno), a woman that suddenly discovers that her late father had sexually abused her. As a consequence of this epiphany, she flees to join her brother, now a professor of classical literature at the University of Virginia. During that fortnight she realizes she was not the only one in the family that had gone through such a nightmarish experience. Meanwhile, back in Rome, her partner is unfaithful to her and her two best girlfriends (one of whom is blind and the other has just been left by her husband for a girl of 20), fall in love with one another.

Yes, this is a bunch of material to work with and to squeeze all of it in a single 100' movie is a bit risky. Actually not all is credible. For example, the parallel story of Franco, Sabina's boyfriend, is not really interesting. Sabina foretells he will go to bed with the first girl he meets while she is away… and quite obviously this proves right: a young girl forces her way into Franco's apartment on New Year's Eve and when he tells her to go, she stays because she knows there won't be taxis available… (what the hell should the guy have done?). All in all the character of Franco is a bit dumb.

The Sapphic love story between the blind girl and Sabina's colleague could have been weird, but is interesting instead, most of all thanks to the quality of the two actresses (Rocca and, especially, astounding Finocchiaro). Beautiful Giovanna Mezzogiorno, not surprisingly, does a good job.

The main issue of the movie, incest, is focused in the right way, not too melodramatic, but rather balanced between Sabina's nightmares and her brother Daniele's quiet hate and rational will to carry on. Unfortunately, the ending is not really interesting. Plus, Lo Cascio is correct, but nothing more.

I liked the flashbacks from what seems to be an apartment in the 70s: a dark, dusty place, with seemingly no windows at all, a perfect place for perpetrating sinister family crimes and bearing them silently (the character of the mother). The Charlottesville segment is convincing, if a bit long. It is not a digression, but rather the most important section of the story. During Sabina's US stay we almost forget about her connections with the characters she left in Rome, and for half of the movie the stories run parallel. Later they suddenly reunite, which results in something of a clash.

In a sequence, Comencini pays homage to some great Italian directors of the past (I caught a glimpse of pictures of at least Fellini, De Sica and Pasolini). Ironically, the sequence is set in a TV studio where a laughable series about a hospital is being shot. TV fiction is explicitly criticized, although later in the movie this attitude changes a bit (Franco, who has worked on the stage and for the cinema, accepts the part of an anesthetist with stupid dialog and even says they occasionally shoot scenes with virtuoso camera movements!).

Comencini is not a Fellini or a Visconti, nor are her Italian colleagues of her generation. But it is not their fault: cinema and the movie market have changed a lot since then. But as long as correct, high standard movies as La bestia nel cuore are produced in Italy, there is nothing to complain about. Go on like this.

After 62nd Venice Film Festival, where G. Mezzogiorno won the Coppa Volpi as best actress, the expectations were high.

The great side of *La Bestia Nel Cuore* is the plot. I'm tired to see Italian/foreign films with great actors and miserable plots (Love Actually,Good Will Hunting,The taste of others,Ricordati di me), but this time the chemistry cast/plot is perfect.

A young woman, Sabina (Mezzogiorno), suffers of frequent nightmares that could be related with her family past. Her brother (Lo Cascio)lives in USA, where he works as Italian Literature professor; Sabina knows the truth starts with him and decides to leave Rome and face a painful journey.

I think the Finocchiaro's role is absolutely stunning. Her tragicomic ups and downs lighten the weight of emotions and confers plural and positive meanings to the whole work.

Yes, it's not the perfection. Some scenes are useless and static, but the skill of the actors makes up for the faults of director.

Thought it's narrated with female point of view, I highly recommend *La Bestia nel Cuore* because the themes in it make all of us reflect. There are neither winners nor losers. Only a new consciousness of each life.

My vote: 8,5 / 10

Sabina is a woman who seems to have it all: a job she loves, a nice boyfriend, and a great apartment. Yet, Sabina is carrying a heavy burden in her heart. It all comes to a head when she has to make a decision about the death of her parents, as we witness at the start of the film. All the bottled emotions are struggling to come out as she decides to spend Christmas with her brother Daniele in America. She wants to see her older sibling in order to make sense of her past and get closure with a horrible past.

Sabina's boyfriend Franco, an actor, is selected to be in a soap opera. Being a theater actor, he is not completely satisfied with the idea, but being realistic, he has to compromise. Sabina, in parting, asks Franco not to see other women while she is away, knowing well the way things are in the world where Franco moves.

Instead of being a joyous reunion, both siblings show a restraint in the way the visit develops. Daniele, who is a professor at an American university, plays the tour guide, pointing different aspects of the place he now calls home, but he never mentions anything about his own childhood. It takes a while for Daniele to open up to Sabina because she wants to get to the bottom of the secret that has damaged them both for life. Both, it turns out, are the victims of family sexual abuse by their father, an ugly situation perpetuated by the mother, who knowing about it, prefers to keep it hidden. When the truth comes out, we watch in horror scenes from both siblings childhood.

Cristina Comencini, the author of the novel in which this film is based, adapted and directed with sure hand. She is the daughter of the distinguished Italian director Luigi Comencini. She has learned well as she sets her story with great precision, creating characters that one can relate to.

The best thing in the film is the work of Giovanna Mezzogiorno. She brings life into Sabina, something that with another actress might not have been as easy. Ms. Mezzogiorno is simply splendid because she makes us care for this wounded woman who is searching for closure in understanding what was done to her at an early age. Equally excellent are Alessio Boni, who appears as Franco, the boyfriend, and Luigi LoCascio makes an impression as Daniele. Both these actors continue to surprise.

This is the first movie I've seen this year(2007) and it's not a bad start at all. While it did come out 2 years ago, I'm only getting to see it now not only because it's a foreign film but also for the fact that I'm so backed up on films I've said I would try and catch up on.

'Don't Tell' was an Oscar nominee for best foreign film back in 2005 and rightfully so. From the theme music and the DVD's menu screen, to the opening credits and the whole hauntingly peering feeling surrounding it, I had a feeling it was going to be good. I have to admit I was a little lost in the beginning, as I hadn't bothered to read the synopsis for fear of ruining the suspense. Anyhow, it didn't take too long to figure it out.

As the film begins, we meet a beautiful young woman named Sabina who is visiting a mausoleum and apparently is having a hard time dealing with the loss of her parents. After she finishes up with the legal proceedings concerning her parents bodies, she goes to work. There we find out that she is a voice-over artist. During one of her dubbing duties, she is visibly traumatised when she has to voice-over a rape victim but at this point in the film it's to early to speculate as to why a professional such as herself would feel that way. Later on, we meet her boyfriend Daniele, an actor who seeming loves Sabina more than his own art. Things go by normally from here on, until one night after having sex with Daniele, Sabina has a very disturbing dream involving her childhood. Troubled very much by this, she visits her blind childhood best-friend the next day and tactfully tries to extract some visions of her past. But her best-friend paints a beautiful picture for Sabina. Times goes by and the dream refuses to leave Sabina, so much so that it begins to hurt her relationship with Daniele. That Christmas, she decides to fly to America to visit her brother and his family and it is this holiday that unleashes all the skeletons in the cupboard and puts all the demons to rest.

The director's attention to detail is perhaps the most stunningly admirable aspect of the film. Everything you see or might take for granted is actually very vital to the story, and in case you miss some things while watching, don't worry they will fall into place and make sense by the end of the film. There was a shot in the beginning where Sabina was running through a cemetery and the camera kept noting all the defaced and mutilated gravestones, statues etc. etc. Even when the camera finally rests on a seemingly normal monument from the front, it's later revealed to damaged from behind. Sabina's perhaps sums it up best when she said "families are all about seeming...you never know what's true or not" and that's just the way the film was shot as well. You never know what's really real and what's not. The thing I took away from watching this is that no matter how low you may think you've reached in your life, no matter how damaged you are, there's always a chance to reinvent yourself and silence the demons from the past.