QUIET BLISS/IN GRAZIA DI DIO

Italy, 2014, 127 minutes, Colour.
Celeste Casciaro, Laura Lichetti, Anna Boccadamo.
Directed by Edoardo Winspeare.


Financial difficulties are the subject of this film set in the Apulia region, east of Rome, Quiet Bliss (the Italian title is more religious, In Grazia di Dio), where a family business founders because of hard times and is declared bankrupt.

The sister of the owner, a somewhat embittered and harsh woman, decides to go back to her mother’s country property to raise fruit and vegetables, eggs and other produce in order to survive. Her mother is a kindly woman, her daughter is a lazy and ignorant girl, defiant of her mother, and who finds herself pregnant. The other woman in the house is the mother’s sister, wanting to be an actress and participating in plays in the Parish Centre.
The film looks beautiful in its countryside setting, and there is some humanity in it even though a lot of the experience is harsh.


1. An Italian story? About financial crisis? Work, struggles?

2. Apulia, the city, homes, factories? The contrast with the farm, the countryside, the small town? The musical score?

3. The original title, the grace of God? The meaning of quiet bliss?

4. The three generations of women, the interconnections and interactions?

5. The factory situation, bankruptcy, interest on loans, hopes for the new orders? Vito and Adele, brother and sister, Vito and his decision to carry on, going
to Switzerland? Adele and her going to the farm?

6. The farm, Adele’s mother, her companion, Ina and her slovenly attitudes towards life?

7. The work on the farm, fruit and vegetables, eggs, the sales in the town, butter, deals, surviving on the farm?

8. Adele, her personality, abrasive, the hard life, tough? Her former husband and his place in the town? In prison? Going fishing, the deal with Vito, drugs? Failure? Ina and her visits to him? Adele and her relationship with her mother? Waking Ina, harsh on her? Managing the farm?

9. The grandmother, nice, 65, her companion, companionship, the proposal, the wedding dress, the marriage – and the young perspective with Ina talking about disgust at such a marriage?

10. Ina, her age, going to visit her father, his being in prison? The gift of the cat? Laziness? Sexual relationships, petting with the boy, her pregnancy, decision to keep the baby, the injuries, the baby being saved? All the clashes with her mother? Her lack of self-worth? The arrival of Stefano, tutoring, the lessons, the bond with him?

11. Stefano, nice, his work, knowing Adele’s situation, living with his mother, the meals for her? The visit to Adele, the memories from school, keeping her company, tutoring Ina – even to speculation about philosophy and Kierkegaard? Adele and her harsh treatment, neglecting him, his staying away?

12. The sister, her conditions, the play in the church, the Annunciation, rehearsing, her lines? The clashes with her sister, her sister’s taunts about her not being pretty, weight, not having a chance for performance? The opportunity for the audition, Adele offering the lift, not turning up? Stefano offering the left?

13. The celebration of the wedding, the hopes with the birth of the child? Some possibilities in peace and hope for a future?