FINALMENTE L’ALBA
Italy, 2023 – Director Saverio Costanzo With Lily James, Rebecca Antonaci, Joe Keery, Rachel Sennott, Alba Rohrwacher, Willem Dafoe Runtime 140′
It’s the ’50s. The location is Cinecittà. The society is suspended between the allure of La Dolce Vita and the memory of a terrible war that just ended. Saverio Costanzo brings cinema back to the suggestions of an unforgettable era in Finalmente l’alba, in competition at Venice 80. The idea came to the filmmaker, winner of David di Donatello, Nastro d’argento and Ciak d’oro for Private (2004), from a crime story of those years, the Montesi unsolved case that had great media prominence. “Initially, I wanted to write a film about the murder of the very young Wilma Montesi, which took place in April 1953,” Costanzo says, “The press speculated on the affair, which involved personalities from politics and show business, an audience’s obsession that soon became indifference. Finalmente l’alba, however, is by no means a detective story; on the contrary, it is a film that looks at reality with eyes of hope, “the initial idea changed and rather than having an innocent woman die, I sought her redemption,” explains the director and screenwriter. Hope is embodied by Rebecca Antonaci in her big-screen debut as the naive young Mimosa, the protagonist of a crazy night that will transform her into a woman. An international ensemble cast also joins her: Lily James (Downton Abbey, Ella), Joe Keery (Stranger Things), Alba Rohrwacher and Willem Dafoe. Costanzo, who had already demonstrated his skill in recreating period atmospheres in the series My Brilliant Friend, here makes a journey through characters and customs of an era as memorable as restless. In 1953 Rome, the night before the Montesi murder, the shooting of a peplum movie set in ancient Egypt almost wrapped up at Cinecittà. Mimosa, a Roman girl born into a humble family who wants to see her married off as soon as possible, shows up at the Cinecittà studios to get a role as an extra in the film that stars the gorgeous Hollywood diva Josephine Esperanto (James) flanked by the charming Sean Lockwood (Keery). Rufus Priori (Dafoe), an American gallerist and friend of Josephine’s, will lead the unlikely group on a wild night with unpredictable twists and turns. “Mimosa is a simple girl who accepts the social invitation of a group of American actors and spends an endless night with them. At dawn, she will come out different, discovering that courage is not about repaying the expectations of others, but about discovering who we are,” Costanzo comments.
