POWER OF THE PAST, THE / LA FORZA DEL PASSATO
Italy, 2002, 93 minutes, Colour.
Sergio Rubini, Bruno Ganz, Sandra Ceccarelli.
Directed by Pier Giorgio Gay
The Power of the Past is an intriguing Italian drama. Set in north-eastern Italy, it focuses on an author in midlife crisis. He encounters a strange characters who transforms him.
The author is played by Sergio Rubini, prominent director and actor, and Bruno Gantz, the German actor (remembered especially for Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, as well as portraying Hitler in Downfall).
1. The meaning of the title? Its relationship to Gianni? The relationship to his father? The truth and the lies?
2. The Trieste settings, the city, the port? The beaches? Authentic atmosphere? The musical score, the songs, the rock 'n roll, The Doors?
3. The focus on Gianni: as a 40-year-old, his life in crisis? His skill as a children's writer, the visualising of his fantasies, himself as the child in the stories? His winning the award, the woman asking for his help, his giving her the cheque? The encounter with his wife, his fear that she was having an affair? Love for his son? The encounter with Bogliasco, his knowing so much about him, wanting the autograph? Forcing him into the car, Gianni's nervousness, running away? His anxiety with his wife, urging them to leave the city? The holiday house, his decision to return? His inquiries about Bogliasco? Meeting him again, bringing back the case? The beginnings of the discussion? The revelation about his father, his unwillingness to believe? Bogliasco and the detail? Bogliasco looking after him, his encounter with the woman with the ill son, the coffee together, her gratitude, his attraction to her? Finding the note from his wife with the truth of the affair? His riding the motorbike, the accident, Bogliasco and his looking after him, to hospital? His mother visiting him in hospital, his trying to get at the truth about his father, his mother keeping secrets? His wife and the reconciliation, a lapse of memory? The focus on Gianni as a person, as a writer, his nervousness, the scenes with his son, with his wife? Alone with his music, the rock 'n roll?
4. Bogliasco, his mysterious presence, interest in Gianni, knowing all about him, the details, in the car? Returning with the bag? The scenes where he explained about the father, the evidence of the photo? The flashbacks to the incident with the car in 1970, the passing of information? His being a guardian angel to Gianni, especially with the accident, the hospital? The farewell, his sailing away, his reflections on the importance of telling the truth?
5. The portrait of Anna, her support of her husband, driving him to the country, with their son, her lie, the confession, the reconciliation? The young boy and his vitality, relationship with his father?
6. His mother, her knowing about her husband or not, the sequence in the hospital? Keeping the secrets?
7. The incidental characters giving atmosphere, the young girl making the appeal at the door and then the outburst against Gianni? The concierge? The people at the hotel?
8. An Italian exploration of mid-life crisis, the absence of a loving father, the desperation to reconcile with a father who was dead? The shock of the hidden truth?
