•
Rating: Creating a film inspired by a philosophical scientific essay like "The Order of Time" by Carlo Rovelli? Certainly, it is an endeavor that cannot help but intrigue, especially if the director is Liliana Cavani, an author of many films so powerful in the themes they tackle that they amply deserve the interest of the audience, stimulating them to reflect and discuss. With this conviction, I went to the cinema yesterday to see the aforementioned film, already presented at the Venice Film Festival. I was therefore well-disposed, but, without taking anything away from the fine acting of the involved actors and actresses and Cavani's proven technique, I cannot say I am convinced of the work's success. And this, despite assuming that the film could not simply focus on Professor Rovelli, an eminent physical scientist, delivering a university lecture on the immense theme of time analyzed by numerous scientists and philosophers from antiquity to today.
Undoubtedly, the premise of the plot is captivating: an asteroid nearly 1900 meters in diameter, spotted by powerful telescopes in Chile, is speeding through our solar system and could (with great probability) impact our planet, with the predictable consequences as it was millions of years ago for the dinosaurs. The news, broadcast on television, bursts into a villa by the sea in Sabaudia, where a group of friends is celebrating Elsa's fiftieth birthday. General astonishment, but one of the present, a professional physical scientist, hesitantly confirms it's not a hoax, and there's nothing left but to hope for a stroke of luck to avoid the probable worst. From here unfolds a web of dialogues among the various characters who, not really shaken by the imminent danger, reminisce about the past, full of many missed opportunities, mistakes made in good faith, and so on. Here and there, there are fleeting references to the conventional nature of time, its elasticity, the spacetime curvature understood since Albert Einstein, but ultimately, it remains a portrait of bourgeoisie in a luxurious setting, revealing stories of mutual sentimental infidelities, following a scheme all too often repeated in the past. And, needless to say, the ending has a consolatory tone.
Obviously, Liliana Cavani has significant directing experience and doesn't produce a flop. Unfortunately, she slips into some stereotypes, such as the character of the stockbroker who, alas, is Teutonic, with cerulean eyes and a small heart (fortunately, he doesn't wear a Nazi officer's uniform). Or the character of the Peruvian housemaid worried about her distant son, who manages to book a ticket for a flight from Rome to Quito departing the next day (oh come on, the world is about to explode, and air traffic continues as if nothing happened?).
But if one expects that sharp edge that characterized her best works (like "The Cannibals," "The Night Porter," and others), they might be somewhat disappointed. It feels like watching one of those films with the delicate touch typical of Rohmer, yet without particularly capturing the audience's interest. To whom, if anything, a spontaneous question arises: what would I do if I knew about an impending apocalyptic catastrophe? Would I consider the elasticity of time? Would I look back at the past and have regrets or even remorse? Would I do something very pleasant, like the characters in the film, such as listening and dancing to the tune of a beautiful Leonard Cohen song? Perhaps, it occurs to me to think, we poor Earthlings wouldn't be as predictable as these characters from the Roman upper-middle class, incredulous and annoyed by such an epochal news like the unforeseen impact of a distant asteroid on poor Earth.
In conclusion, it seemed to me a film not entirely convincing but not without a surprise. I don't know if anyone still remembers the Spanish actress Angela Molina, a stunning beauty who was the protagonist in Bunuel's "That Obscure Object of Desire." Well, here she is in Cavani's film in the role of Sister Raffaella, who, after studying Physics as a young woman, believes that the mysteries of the universe, analyzed by science, stimulate faith in God and the choice of monastic life. Seeing her in such a role, after all these years, I couldn't help but agree with the famous Latin saying "Tempus fugit...". And ultimately, we are in time, and time is within us.
Loading comments slowly
