THE INTERVAL/ L’INTERVALLO

Italy, 2012, 89 minutes, Colour.
Salvatore Rucco, Francesca Risi.
Directed by Leonardo di Costanzo.

The Interval is a brief drama, more for a specialist audience than for a popular audience. It is set in Naples, with a background atmosphere of the mafia. However, it focuses on a small amount of time, a couple of hours, where a young woman who has fallen foul of a boss is guarded in a warehouse by a young man who sells ice creams with his father. The woman, obviously, does not want to be there. The young man does not want to be there either and does not know exactly truth about the woman.

At first, the woman is sullen, taunting the young man. He is patient, putting up with her tantrums. However, as time goes by, they begin to talk, begin to share their stories and a friendship is underway. This is important when the thug who has put the woman there returns with subsequent clashes.

The film moves at a leisurely place pace, the indicating the slow passage of time for each of the two protagonists. The performances are convincing and we can believe that this kind of low-burning drama could happen on any afternoon in Naples. The Interval won six awards at the Venice Film Festival and Best Film at the Italian Golden Globes awards.