Fiore (2016)

Fiore: Directed by Claudio Giovannesi. With Daphne Scoccia, Josciua Algeri, Valerio Mastandrea, Gessica Giulianielli. Youth detention centre. Daphne, arrested for theft, falls in love with Josh, who is also a young robber. Men and women can not meet in jail and love is forbidden. Daphne and Josh’s relationship is only based on glances from one cell to the other, short conversations through the bars and secret letters. The prison is not the only deprivation from freedom but becomes also where love is impossible. Fiore is the story of the desire to love of a teenager girl and the power of an emotion that breaks every law.

“The weirdest thing about this film is the title: fiore. It means u0026quot;floweru0026quot; but for the whole length of the movie we donu0026#39;t get to see any or even hear the word. Except for the star of the movie (a non-pro actress) whose real and fictional names are both daphne, which is the botanical name of a genus of shrubs. Intentionally or not when the closing titles are over we canu0026#39;t avoid thinking about both the film and the lead actress as a flower, young and wounded, bold and frail, beautiful and venomous, facing destruction and still faithful to her nature. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eShe is great. She doesnu0026#39;t steal the focus of the viewer, she doesnu0026#39;t overact. Sheu0026#39;s perfect as a confused, bewildered, passionate, abandoned adolescent looking for her place and something nice and meaningful to do. The plot, the photography, the writing, even the soundtrack: everything seems very simple or – better – essential; flowerish – again. Yet the realism level is quite high: very good job to the writers, the director and the actors.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe directoru0026#39;s agenda (he gave interviews about it) is to show how pointless is putting young u0026quot;criminalsu0026quot; into a prison. While the next question to this main topic rests unanswered (then what should we do?) in the film, I really liked how he showed why his perspective deserves to be pondered (if not adopted) by a wider audience. Unfortunately very few will have access to this film: but if you have a chance, you should watch it. 8”