Monica Bellucci plays a frustrated Sicilian mother trapped by social expectations in Ketticè, the second feature from filmmaker Giovanni Tortorici, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Italian coming-of-age drama stars Salvatore Gallina and Rachele Testagrossa and is produced by a team that includes Luca Guadagnino. Set in Palermo in 2012, during the era of media mogul-turned-politician Silvio Berlusconi, the film follows 16-year-old Giulio, a disillusioned teenager with little enthusiasm for school or his future.
Giulio finds an escape from his monotonous life after meeting Ketty, a confident peer. The pair form a close friendship as they seek freedom from the judgement of adults.
Bellucci plays Giulio’s mother, a woman from an aristocratic Sicilian family who feels suffocated by her social role. She described the character as a victim of societal expectations who deals with her frustration through food.
“She’s hysterical, but she doesn’t scare anyone because we know that she will never have the courage to leave,” Bellucci said.
She added that the character has “forgotten about her femininity”, does not care for herself and expresses herself by shouting. Her strained relationship with Giulio reflects a wider generational divide and the inability of adults and young people to understand each other.
Tortorici said a scene involving a girl admiring former Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini drew from his own experience of knowing someone who held similar views.
Bellucci praised Tortorici as a confident and determined young filmmaker with a distinct voice. She also praised Gallina and Testagrossa, who were discovered through extensive street casting, calling their performances natural and spontaneous.
The film features cinematography by Camilla Cattabriga and editing by Marco Costa. PiperPlay is handling international sales.
