THE GIRL IN THE FOG/ LA RAGAZZA NELLA NEBBIA

Italy, 2017, 128 minutes, Colour.
Toni Servillo, Alessio Boni, Lorenzo Richelmy, Daniela Pizza, Thierry Toscan, Ekatharina Buscemi, Greta Scacchi, Jean Reno.
Directed by Donato Carrisi.

This is an Italian investigative thriller, based on a novel by the screenwriter and director of this film, Donato Carrisi. His subsequent film, 2019, into the Labyrinth, was another investigative thriller starring Dustin Hoffman and the star of this film, Tony Servillo.

The framework of the narrative is a psychiatrist living in a secluded village woken and having to interview the visiting detective who has been involved in an accident. The narrative goes back then to the period before Christmas, the special traditionalist Confraternity in the town, a young girl leaving her parents’ home and suddenly disappearing outside it.

The detective, played by Tony Servillo, in his superior manner (as Andreotti in Il Divo, as the star of The Great Beauty), is an arrogant man, sure of himself, fond of the media, getting clues, letting others indicate clues.

The main suspect is a teacher who has come to the town six months earlier with his wife and daughter. He is seen in class. On the day of the girl’s disappearance he went hiking in the mountains. A young man in the town who was obsessed with the girl who disappeared filmed her and the teacher’s car appears in the film. He becomes the main suspect. He is arrested but then let go.

The film is intriguing with its range of characters and their interactions. Audiences will be wanting to pick up any of the clues to find the solution. Towards the end, there is a guest appearance by Greta Scacchi as a journalist who reveals a serious serial killer from 30 years earlier – and who pleads for the innocence of the teacher.

Jean Reno plays the psychiatrist – and the end of the film indicates that he could be the killer, the re-enactment of the abduction by the teacher may be real but in the mind of the detective…

1. An Italian murder mystery? Detective story? Psychological story? Investigation? Detection? Leads? Media? Alternate solutions?

2. The film’s director and his writing the novel and the screenplay?

3. The setting, the mountains, the town, its isolation, the road coming in and the only one going out? The roads? Homes, the school, the Confraternity and its gatherings? Press conferences? The musical score?

4. The title, the girl at Christmas, leaving home, going to the Confraternity, her disappearance? The issue of the cat? Her body disappearing? Her two diaries? Her room? The finding of her backpack?

5. The religious atmosphere, the owner of the hotel, his cross, the hotel closing, the members of the confraternity, the parents, the meetings, the traditionalist agenda?

6. The framework of the narrative, the detective and his accident, not injured, the drops of blood? The rousing of the psychiatrist from bed, the interview, the range of discussions, the material in flashback? The background of the psychiatrist, his fishing, his trophies, catching the one fish? His heart attack, his retirement to the town? 30 years passing?

7. The story of the young girl, 16, at school, Priscilla as her friend, Mattia and the puzzle about his interest, filming her? Protecting her? Her room, the two diaries, concealed from her mother, the boy, Oliver, from summer?

8. The detective, his presence in manner, haughty? His assistant and their working together? The media, Stella and her communications and leads? The mysterious Beatrice Leman? Her detection in the past, the diary, the contact with the detective? Their interview, her wanting the truth? The story of the murders 30 years earlier, the serial killer?

9. The transition to the story of the teacher, the move to the town six months earlier, the daughter not willing, missing her friends, the mother loyal to her husband? His teaching at the school, literature? His return after the suspicions, his class about mystery, victims, the detective coming in and applauding? Priscilla, wanting to act, asking for the teacher’s advice and his agreeing? Her later being interviewed? Mattia at the back of the class?

10. The teacher going hunting for the day, in the mountains? His return, his injured hand? His being under suspicion? The encounters with the detective, the discussions, the issue of vanity as a vice? His taking off his beard? Injuring his hand? The arrest, in custody, the media, the attacks? His release?

11. The detective, under suspicion, taking the diary, his associate taking the diary? Under arrest?

12. The mystery of the ending? In realistic terms? In imaginative terms? The psychiatrist as the serial killer? As the killer of the girl in the present? (And the images of his heart attack on the beach, the second image and his being with the girl?) The teacher, the visualising of his attack, the issue of the cat, the finding of the backpack, the teacher actually killing the girl – or in the mind of the detective? The role of the detective, his imperious manner, arrogance, solving the mystery, the accusation of the teacher – and the suggestion that he drove away, return to kill the teacher?

13. How important to have a definite solution? Or various possibilities?