A group of promising young people arrive in the "Villa Médicis", as beneficiaries of a prestigious programme meant to encourage art and culture. One of the artists involved is a young female writer, who brings along her husband and her daughter. It soon becomes clear that the husband, an older and distinguished author, does not support his wife's ambitions. Meanwhile the woman grows close to another artist, a young female photographer with a talent for sensing and discovering the uncanny...
Set in the sublime Villa Médicis, "L'indomptée" is a mix of drama, fantasy and horror. It treats themes such as the various factors which encourage or impede creativity, especially within the literary arts. (For instance : if you're a budding writer, try working in the immediate vicinity of a husband who makes a lot of noise, looks at your drafts, filches your source material and mocks your methods.) The movie also invites discussions on the utility of cultural programmes such as these : are we talking about a genuine opportunity for struggling artists, about an expensive vacation for members of an ivory-tower elite, about a vanity project for a nation obsessed with image and prestige ?
"L'indomptée" contains a lot of promising ideas. However, it struggles with the execution of these ideas. It seems to aim for a dream-like mix of past and present, reality and fiction, but somehow the results aren't all that successful. For instance, the various "visions" of the young photographer fail to scare or impress. Imagine, say, how much more frightening her encounter with the Roman empress would have become if she had noticed and followed a winding trail of bloodied footprints. Or imagine her sitting down on a sun-kissed garden bench, in full daylight, in order to notice the empress sitting next to her... Well, horror is a difficult genre, which explains why there are so many disappointing horror movies around.
On the other hand "L'indomptée" is not a total catastrophe : the acting, for instance, is good. The viewer also gets a free tour of the superb Villa Médicis, one of the most charming jewels in Italy's rich crown. Even the most prosaic of viewers will fall under the spell of its richly layered history and its opulent beauty...
Set in the sublime Villa Médicis, "L'indomptée" is a mix of drama, fantasy and horror. It treats themes such as the various factors which encourage or impede creativity, especially within the literary arts. (For instance : if you're a budding writer, try working in the immediate vicinity of a husband who makes a lot of noise, looks at your drafts, filches your source material and mocks your methods.) The movie also invites discussions on the utility of cultural programmes such as these : are we talking about a genuine opportunity for struggling artists, about an expensive vacation for members of an ivory-tower elite, about a vanity project for a nation obsessed with image and prestige ?
"L'indomptée" contains a lot of promising ideas. However, it struggles with the execution of these ideas. It seems to aim for a dream-like mix of past and present, reality and fiction, but somehow the results aren't all that successful. For instance, the various "visions" of the young photographer fail to scare or impress. Imagine, say, how much more frightening her encounter with the Roman empress would have become if she had noticed and followed a winding trail of bloodied footprints. Or imagine her sitting down on a sun-kissed garden bench, in full daylight, in order to notice the empress sitting next to her... Well, horror is a difficult genre, which explains why there are so many disappointing horror movies around.
On the other hand "L'indomptée" is not a total catastrophe : the acting, for instance, is good. The viewer also gets a free tour of the superb Villa Médicis, one of the most charming jewels in Italy's rich crown. Even the most prosaic of viewers will fall under the spell of its richly layered history and its opulent beauty...
