| La
parola amore esiste (The Word Love Exists)
Mimmo Calopresti Italy
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| Mimmo Calopresti, whose La parola amore esiste (The Word Love Exists)
has been chosen to open the 30th Directors' Fortnight, is no stranger to
Cannes. In 1996, the Italian director's debut feature, The Second Time,
was selected to compete on the Croisette, accompanied by leading actor
and producer Nanni Moretti.
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"Last time Nanni was my talisman," said Calopresti in a recent interview. "His name, which is so revered in France, served as a guarantee for my film. This time I'm here under my own steam, but without the anxiety of competing." Calopresti's first film dealt in sombre, intimate terms with the legacy of the urban terrorism phenomenon that plagued Italy in the 1970s. Equally intimate but lighter and more optimistic in tone, Calopresti's new film stars Bruni Tedeschi as Angela, an obsessive, well-heeled waif ruled not by political sentiments but by romantic ones. Calopresti's switch from an ideological to an emotional focus found a prestigious patron in Gerard Depardieu, who makes a brief appearance as a sympathetic lawyer, and initially was to be involved in a production capacity. After reading a 15-page treatment of The Word Love Exists, the French actor likened his enthusiasm for the material to his response to Truffaut's The Woman Next Door. "I loved Calopresti's story because it's the right kind of story for the end of the millennium," said Depardieu. "There are no more certainties, the patriarchal family is finished, traditional values have disappeared, and solitude is all that's left. And to avoid being alone, one looks for love." David Rooney |
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