Sebastiano Riso - Una famiglia

Vincent was born near Paris, but has cut off every link with his roots. Maria, fifteen years younger, grew up in Ostia, but no longer sees her family. Together they form a couple that does not seem to need anyone. They lead a secluded life in contemporary Rome, indolent and distracted. Furthermore, Vincent and Maria are good at blending in with their environment. When they return home, they make love with the passion of young lovers in a suburban apartment that she has carefully furnished. Yet, on closer inspection, their everyday life betrays what lies behind their seemingly normal appearance: a project carried out by him with a clear determination and accepted by her only by virtue of unconditional love. A plan to help couples who cannot have children. Maria decides that it is time to create a real family. This choice has an inevitable consequence: the rebellion against Vincent, the man of her life.

I immediately realized that to be able to face such a subject I would have had to draw from my childhood, to memories related to my mother; however, without forgetting my “literary mothers”, the women I saw in films and of which I read in books, which have remained within me. It was important that Maria were represented without extravagance, with the due discretion, so as to communicate her fragility, but also her desire, which was torn and yet very strong, to be a mother. Honesty and discretion are the foundation of my staging approach: without being intrusive, I wanted to be present, always alongside Maria. The camera is always on set, physically very close to the protagonists, handled entirely by hand and ready to accompany them in their performance. It was important to me and my cinematographer, as well as camera operator, to create a bond between us observers and who was living the story in first person. The set has thus become a world where the actors were able to move freely. The cinematographer and myself were in constant radio connection during the shooting and we could choose what at the moment seemed to us the most interesting prospect for our investigation.