In his latest film, Dolce Fine Giornata, Polish director and screenwriter Jacek Borcuch tackles many themes linked to current issues: the influence of the refugee crisis, the family and the limits of freedom.
He brings these to life through the story of a poetess and grandmother, Maria Linde. She lives in the idyllic Tuscan countryside, surrounded by family, friends and her younger Egyptian lover. But after a terrorist attack in Rome, and in the current context of how refugees are received, there is greater tension – both in old Europe and in her small town. Maria receives a major life-time award, but rejecting the ambient hypocrisy, she returns to the public arena with a statement which creates a furore.
The director wanted to make an intimate portrait of the Polish and Italian actors working together on the film. Through this acclaimed poetess Borcuch portrays a class of European intellectuals who refuse a world controlled by walls and borders. Linde’s relationship with her Egyptian lover, Nazeer, is a living metaphor for the relationship between eastern and western cultures. Her domestic environment also becomes an allegory, with the family representing Europe, at first united, but then torn apart and collapsing.
The concept of the “Old Continent”, its inability to manage current challenges, and the fear which affects the majority of its people – these are the issues Borcuch explores. He set the film in Italy because, having visited the country many times, he realised it epitomises perfectly the expectations and challenges which Europe as a whole must meet.
Jacek Borcuch explains that “at its simplest you can take Dolce Fine Giornata as a film about a family, about human relationships. It works at that level. But if we take it as a metaphor, we can see it as a story about Europe, about our ancient continent. Maria Linde, played by Krystyna Janda, is a symbol of our old Europe. Nazeer, a Coptic, symbolizes a young Europe and the future of this continent”.
Dolce Fine Giornata trailer
The film was presented in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, the third film Borcuch has shown there. It will open in French cinemas on February 5th.
Source :
http://www.allocine.fr
https://cineuropa.org
https://www.italieaparis.net
https://www.sundance.org
