★½
Nonostante, directed by Valerio Mastandrea as his second feature has opened the Orizzonti sidebar competition at the 81st Venice International Film Festival.
The story centers around a man (Valerio Mastandrea) who has been comfortably living in a hospital, finding solace in the routine and detachment from life’s responsibilities. However, his peaceful existence is disrupted when a new patient, played by Dolores Fonzi, enters his ward. Unlike him, she is furious and refuses to accept the passive life the hospital seems to impose. Her defiant attitude forces the protagonist to confront his own emotions and the reality of his situation. This dynamic forms the core of the film’s exploration of life, illness, and the human condition.
But there’s a twist – both these characters, and most of the others they talk to, are revealed to be ‘living ghosts’ – the astral projections of coma patients. When one of them looks like they may awaken, questions of what makes life living are raised – especially as the act of arising from a coma will cause all memories of a person’s time as a wandering spirit to be erased – no matter whether they’ve come to love each other or not in the meantime.
An interesting premise, but sadly one that’s given a maudlin, saccharine treatment with very little visual interest. This film desperately wants to be deep, yet it’s as shallow as a puddle. The performances are decent, but they’re in the service of a cloying, vapid vision. In all the worst ways, this film felt purgatorial to me.
Nonostante played the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
Whitlock&Pope 