The Body

This film (drama)Also known asCorpo Celeste，is aItaly, Switzerland, FranceProducerwomen sex，At2011Released in year 。The dialogue language isItalian，Current Douban rating7.5(For reference only)。

A 2011 Italian drama masterpiece, featured in the Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight, and awarded the Jury Special Prize at the Écrans Junior film festival. The film uses nearly documentary techniques to detail the inner struggles of a young girl. 13-year-old Marta lives deep in southern Italy. After spending 10 years in Switzerland, she is now trying to adapt to life back in Italy. With her bright, wide eyes, she often feels anxious and afraid. She experiences the city with all her senses—seeing, hearing, and feeling—but she feels like an outsider. Marta is about to have her baptism ceremony at the local Catholic church. According to Catholic doctrine, she must understand the contents of the catechism and adhere to it as her code of conduct. Just at this critical moment, conflicts arise between Marta, her mother, sister, and her school teachers. After experiencing some events, she decides to cut her hair and start a new life. From this moment, Marta feels that she has truly “lived” again since returning to Italy. One-sentence review The only mistake the director may have made was overlooking the perspective and character of the protagonist. However, when viewed through the framework of documentary aesthetics, this cannot be considered a flaw, but rather a compromise made by the director to practice documentary aesthetics. — Daily Screen A simple and casual story, with a camera language that both engages and distances. This is a very standard European art film, likely to be appreciated only by a small portion of cinephiles. — Variety Magazine This can be said to be a film that entirely follows the elements of realism. It explores themes of faith and growth, complemented by some symbolic elements that make the film quite enjoyable. — Hollywood Reporter Behind the scenes The film was shot in the small town of Reggio Calabria in southern Italy, where the place appears dirty, poor, and detached from modern society. Director Alice Rohrwacher discovered this location while filming a documentary. She said, “In this place, children need to pick up garbage to survive. I love it here, so I decided to shoot The Body here. It feels very real and truly represents the contradictions of all of Italy: beneath the beautiful scenery, people are disturbed by the process of modernization. The characteristics of this city reflect the restlessness of all Italy.” The film tells a story of self-discovery while addressing the themes of loss and religion. In fact, Rohrwacher did not initially set out to create a theme of loss. She said, “The whole film is built on the basis of my research, and I wasn’t planning to start with the theme of loss from the beginning. During my investigation, I found that almost everyone in a community was lost. So I created the character of Marta, allowing her to lose herself while searching for a place in the vast world.” The film contains many critical perspectives on religion, indicating Rohrwacher's opinions on the subject. In the film, Father Mario shows no concern for the faith, problems, or struggles of his followers; he only cares about his own “career.” Rohrwacher said, “In today’s Italy, this is a very common phenomenon, and the character of Mario is based on reality. Many priests may appear to be engaged in spiritual work, but in reality, they have become believers in power. Their work involves building churches and thinking about how to get promoted and develop more followers to increase their power. They never teach people how to have faith; they just make people memorize the content of the catechism, urging them to pray. This is contrary to true religion.” The director, Alice Rohrwacher, was a documentary filmmaker before making this film, so it inevitably carries a documentary quality. From the framing to the story, from editing to atmosphere, The Body is more akin to a documentary than a narrative film. In particular, the portrayal of Marta's life and choices is both calm and cold, with the camera seeming to be merely an observer, responsible for recording events without offering evaluations. Speaking of this visual language, we must mention the film's cinematographer, Hélène Louvart. This outstanding cinematographer's previous work was Wim Wenders’ documentary Pina. Regarding Louvart, Alice Rohrwacher said, “We worked together very happily; she always quickly captured what I wanted, and it seemed like she achieved my requests without much effort. Both of us appreciate simple work. That's how we created such outstanding visual effects for the film. Overall, this film focuses on the spiritual aspects, and spiritual thoughts are not actually ethereal. Some might think spiritual content is illusory; in fact, spirituality is realistic and true, rooted deeply within. This is the meaning of the film's title, The Body. The celestial bodies in the universe appear very ethereal and unreachable, yet they genuinely exist there and have existed for thousands and billions of years. This is exactly the intangible yet real characteristic of spirituality.”