10/10
1944, Vermiglio, a remote mountain village. The arrival of Pietro, a deserter, into the family of the local teacher and his love for the teacher's eldest daughter will change the course of everyone's life. 39;Best International Feature Film' category of the 97th Academy Awards in 2025.. Referenced in Close-Up: Why do We Need the Venice Film Festival? (2024). Beautifully photographed and well acted, but in 2hrs nothing interesting happens. Too many story lines are started but never concluded; there are too many characters to allow any depth of characterization or for the audience to identify with any of them. There is no discernible message or revelation. The film is obviously made to please the snobs of the art world, who provide the subsidies which enable such sod-the-audience films to exist. To this end, the director is so desperate to be considered "serious" that no trace of humor is allowed: everyone behaves with what the Germans call animal-seriousness.