I'M HERE, WHERE ARE YOU? (DOVE SIETE, IO SONO QUI?)

Italy, 1993, 120 minutes, Colour.
Anna Bonnaiuto, Chiara Caselli, Gaetano Carotenuto.
Directed by Liliana Cavani.

I'm Here, Where Are You? is a film about a man and a woman who are deaf. The film is written and directed by Liliana Cavani - better known for such strong films as The Night Porter, The Skin, Beyond Good and Evil as well as for an interpretation of Francis of Assisi, Francesco, with Mickey Rourke.

The film is dedicated to her aunt. She draws a very sympathetic picture of a young man, forced to be `normal' by his disappointed mother but sustained by a sympathetic aunt who teaches him to understand sound through vibrations. He meets a young student who is also deaf and falls in love with her, helping her to start studying again, to pass her exams - and for a future?

The film wears its heart on its sleeve, although the characters are well drawn. There is a symbolic dimension to the film when the hero rescues a Japanese dancer from thugs - and then finds that in mime and in dance, those who are hearing impaired can find exhilaration in life, movement.

The film might be compared with Children of a Lesser God and other films treating of the hearing impaired.

1. The work of Liliana Cavani, a film from the heart? For the wide audience?

2. The Italian settings, the city, workplace, homes? The theatre?

3. The blend of the real and the symbolic? The world of the hearing impaired, sounds and vibrations, the reading of lips? The visualising of sound through machines and colour?

4. The Japanese dancer, dance in motion, music, vibration? Hearing and feeling?

5. The point being made about the hearing impaired being marginalised, parents wanting their children to be normal, abusing their children and forcing them into a world that they cannot live in properly, parents' pride?

6. Fausto, the sympathetic young man, the audience learning through his speech and lipreading that he was hearing impaired? The relationship with Maria? Coming home, the gifts, his mother tense, the meal, giving the picture to his aunt, listening to the music and seeing it in colour? In himself, his upbringing, normal patterns of speaking, lipreading? At work, the prospect of going to England, his being both mocked and helped at work? The visit to the zoo, the hippopotamus, hearing the story, the encounter with Elena?

7. The bond with his aunt, the flashbacks, the harshness of his mother, her criticism of her sister, the aunt and her sharing music, sounds? Taking him to the League, his later visits, the testimonies of the hearing impaired, the impressions of the rallies, the need for protest to `normal people' and governments? His aunt and her stroke, his going to the hospital, his cry of grief? Living in her house?

8. The portrait of his mother, her love, hardness, controlling his life, getting him jobs, wanting his relationship with Maria to continue? His leaving home, the puzzle about the loan? Her jealousy of her sister and the bond with Fausto? Her coming to confront Elena? The contrast with his father - nice but ineffectual and absent? The gift of the watch?

9. The Japanese dancer, the incident in the restaurant, the bashing, Fausto's intervention and his being hurt, taking him to the theatre, the atmosphere of the theatre, the anxiety to get him on stage, the make-up, the audience, the applause? Mime, movement, dance, symbolism? Fausto's delight? His interest in lighting, the return to study lighting technology? Taking Elena? The importance of the Japanese dancer appearing in his nightmare dream about Elena's death, the grief, the motion, the rose?

10. Elena, at the zoo, at the League meetings, her mother and her concern, her mother telling Fausto the story? Her love for Latin poetry? The meal with Fausto's aunt? Not wanting to study, working at the restaurant? Sharing with Fausto, learning, the Japanese theatre?

11. Going to class, the difficulty of reading lips, people turning their back? The maths teacher and his mockery? The Latin teacher, the sympathetic students, the embarrassment of not reciting Catullus properly? Fausto helping Elena to learn to talk properly? Helping her with maths, with Latin? The bond between them, the sexual relationship, living together? Her living with the two bikies in the apartment - and their mockery? Pity for her relating to a deaf man? Her leaving them and the clash?

12. Elena's mother, going to the principal, the argument about the right to education, special teachers? The principal with the teachers and the meeting, discussing Elena's future? The intervention of the Latin teacher - and her quoting from Elena's essay about language?

13. Elena and the confrontation with Fausto's mother, going to the restaurant, the accident, in hospital?

14. The dramatic appropriateness of Fausto's dream - Elena's death, the funeral, everybody there at the mourning, the Japanese dancer? Fausto and the human reality of always fearing and imagining the worst?

15. The strength of the characters, credible, their interactions? The world of the hearing impaired? An appeal for audience appreciation and understanding?