Main Cast: Michela Cescon, Vitaliano Trevisan, Roberto Comacchio, Alberto Re, Paolo Caoduro
Release Year: 2004
Country: IT
Run Time: 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
An artist's strange obsessions take a grim toll on the woman he's fascinated with in this drama from Italy. Vittorio (Vitaliano Trevisan) is a jewelry designer who is set up on a blind date with Sonia (Michela Cescon), a attractive woman whose figure is slightly zaftig but well proportioned. Over the course of their date, Vittorio, an obsessive artist who doesn't do well in contact with others, tells Sonia, who is close to few people besides her brother, that he would be more interested in her if she lost some weight. Sonia is miffed at Vittorio's blunt statement, but he persuades her to spend more time with him, and as she grows fond of him, she accepts his offer to move in with him. Soon, Vittorio has put Sonia on a strict regimen of diet and exercise, in a bid to reduce her weight; as he becomes increasingly obsessed with her body, her hunger and exhaustion begin to cause hallucinations, and soon she can no longer tell what around her is real and what is imagined. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Cast
Michela Cescon - Sonia
Vitaliano Trevisan - Vittorio
Roberto Comacchio - Sonia's Brother
Alberto Re
Paolo Caoduro
Elvezia Allari; Antonella Mazzucato; Gianluca Moretto; Marco Manzardo; Antonio Viero; Deni Viero; Claudio Manuzzato; Pierpaolo Speggiorin; Paolo Cumerlato
Credit
Paolo Bonfini - Art Director, Francesca Leondeff - Costume Designer, Gianni di Gregorio - First Assistant Director, Matteo Garrone - Director, Marco Spoletini - Editor, Banda Osiris - Composer (Music Score), Marco Onorato - Cinematographer, Laura Paolucci - Producer, Marcietta Lombardo - Sound/Sound Designer, Matteo Garrone - Screenwriter, Massimo Gaudioso - Screenwriter
First Love (Primo Amore in Italian) is a 2004 film directed by Matteo Garrone and Massimo Gaudioso, based on a novel by Marco Mariolini. The film deals with anorexia nervosa. This film has not been rated by the MPAA. As it contains nudity, sex, and sadomasochism, it is not considered appropriate for children to watch.
Vittorio (Vitaliano Trevisan) is a goldsmith looking for a very thin woman to make golden figurines of. He meets a model, Sonia (Michela Cescon), whom he finds too fat. Somehow he manages to convince her to lose weight to an unhealthy degree. No one wants to buy Vittorio's figurines of Sonia, and his goldsmith shop is repo'd. Vittorio discovers food Sonia has sneaked in and beats her up. She tries to kill him but fails.
Awards
The score won Banda Osiris the 2004 Silver Berlin Bear for Best Film Music. The band won at other festivals, too. At the Flaiano Film Festival, Michela Cescon won for Best Actress and Marco Onorato won for Best Cinematography.
Reception
The film "has been described as “a horror movie about desire,” which seems fitting."[1] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times finds this film "an elegantly told tale of obsession that, in failing to take on any larger meaning, rapidly becomes depressing to watch."[2] Thomas and others are confused as to "why she [Sonia] strives so mightily to please someone so obviously insane." The Italian Wikipedia finds the film "crude" and its characters lacking in "profundity."
References
^Abrams, Danielle (2007-10-23). "Primo Amore". Italian Film blog. http://italianfilm.blogspot.com/2007/10/primo-amore.html. Retrieved 2007-11-10. "The director takes an uncomfortably close look at obsessive love, further complicated by the troubled characters’ various psychological issues."
^ Kevin Thomas, "Capsule Reviews: 'Primo Amore,' 'The Man Who Copied' and 'The Painting'" Los Angleles Times April 29, 2005
