Don't Call It Love
Movie Review of 'Don't Move'
Volume four, Issue 10 | March 10 - 16,
2005FILMDON’T
MOVE Directed by Sergio
CastellittoIn Italian, with English
subtitlesNorthern Arts
EntertainmentOpens Mar.
11Landmark Sunshine
CinemaCourtesy:
Northern Arts Entertainment.Penelope
Cruz, as Italia, storms off from Sergio Castellitto, as Timoteo, her abuser, but
the young woman never quite gets
away.Don’t Call It
LoveDisturbing film
about doctor’s shameless sexual violence somehow captured Italy’s
heartBy SETH J.
BOOKEYCall me naive, but taking a doctor
who lives a privileged life, and having him commit what amounts to serial rape
against a destitute women, is not the makings of a great love story in my
book.“Don’t Move”
opens with the doctor, Timoteo (Sergio Castellitto), awaiting news of his
daughter’s critical operation. She’s suffered a severe head trauma
after a motorcycle accident and as his colleagues operate, he reminisces about
the time his car broke down and a destitute woman allowed him to user her phone.
He thanks the woman, named Italia (Penelope Cruz), by raping her. When he goes
to apologize to her, he pretty much rapes her again. Timoteo is a cold fish who
doesn’t appreciate his wife, Elsa (Claudia Gerini), a character who will
strain the credulity of many viewers with her willingness to accept his many
excuses for not being home as he keeps returning to Italia’s hovel for
more angry, rough sex. At one point, he nabs her in an alley and screws her
against some wooden crates during a rainstorm. At times, Timoteo treats his wife
to some of the same.The film, the
highest grossing in Italy last year, is based on a novel by Margaret Mazzantini,
who described this as the “story of a man who asks women to forgive him in
the rain.” There is, however, a big difference between a story of
forgiveness and redemption and one simply about people making stupid, even
criminal decisions and then justifying them on the high alter of love. The
introduction of a vague “angel” element does nothing to mitigate the
corruption and solipsism at the doctor’s
core.Shortly after meeting Italia,
Timoteo writes “I raped a woman” in the sand at the beach and his
wife doesn’t even notice it. He also tells a woman across the way all of
his sins at the top of his voice, and Elsa somehow reduces that to background
noise. Timoteo acts out in other ways, ranging from the silly (peeing on his
wife’s plants) to the irresponsible (ditching a work trip by feigning
heart trouble) to the despicable (kicking his in-laws’ dog under the
table). But because he is a doctor, his veneer of respectability hides a lot of
sins, and no one ever seems to hold him accountable.
When Italia gets pregnant, Timoteo is
forced to face some realities, which is long overdue. He is a man who
desperately wants some kind of punishment without actually coming clean about
any of his sins. It’s hard not to
pity Cruz’s Italia, who is basically a wretch here. She’s never
known real love, and at the time she meets Timoteo, she is facing eviction from
the hovel where she lives which her grandfather has sold to a rising apartment
complex that has come to surround it. Her abusive, impoverished background is
presumably intended to explain her willingness to mistake a repeat rapist for
someone who might actually love her.Much
has been made in the press about Penelope Cruz’s appearance in
“Don’t Move,” as if it’s akin to Charlize Theron’s
utter transformation in “Monster.” But Cruz, even with her hair a
mess, her face dirty and a general run-down, haggard countenance, is still
pretty damned gorgeous. Her real challenge here is playing a character who seems
to not have even one ounce of respect for herself. It is pretty interesting to
watch Cruz as she delivers that
characterization.Don’t Move”
is well produced and Castellitto, who is also the film’s director,
achieves some beautiful moments visually, but if you go in expecting redeeming
love, you will be disappointed. If you’re okay with spending two hours
with a womanizing jerk who’s detached from his deepest feelings, and
seeing what it takes to finally bring them to the surface, then the film will
provide some rewarding moments along with the beautifully shot
scenes.
Posted: Thu - March 10, 2005 at 10:57 PM
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Published On: Jun 20, 2009 07:04 PM
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