L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 32 L'Italo-Americano A b a n d o n m e n t , f a m i l y , r e l a - tionships, lost c o n n e c t i o n s . With his latest m o v i e , M o n i c a , I t a l i a n Director Andrea Pallaoro, 41, brings on screen several topics perfect for the audi- ence to take a moment and r e f l e c t o n l i f e , i n a l l i t s pieces. On June 13th, the Italian Cultural Institute (IIC) h o s t e d t h e s c r e e n i n g o f Monica, welcoming Director Pallaoro to San Francisco for w h a t b e c a m e a n i g h t o f exploration and conversa- tions. Director Pallaoro lives in Los Angeles, though his story as professional film- m a k e r a n d s c r e e n w r i t e r u n f o l d e d a m o n g m a n y p l a c e s : b o r n i n T r e n t o i n Northern Italy, he got his BA a t H a m p s h i r e C o l l e g e i n Massachusetts and holds an MFA in Film Directing from the California Institute of the Arts. His debut dates back to 2013 with Medeas, which premiered at the 70th annu- al Venice Film Festival and brought him many interna- tional awards. Just to men- tion a few, Best Director at The Marrakech Film Festi- v a l , t h e S e r g e j P a r a j a n o v Award for Outstanding Poet- ic Vision at the Tbilisi Inter- national Film Festival, and the New Voices/New Visions Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. With Hannah, he contin- ued working towards a trilo- gy of movies with a female lead. The movie premiered at the 74th Venice Film Fes- t i v a l , w h e r e C h a r l o t t e Rampling, who performed a s t h e l e a d i n g c h a r a c t e r , won the Coppa Volpi for best actress. The movie went on to get the award for Best Cinematography at the 53rd Chicago International Film Festival, and a César Nomi- nation for Best Foreign Film. Monica debuted in 2022, right on time for the 79th Venice International Film Festival and it was released by IFC Films in the United States in May this year. It stars Trace Lysette, Patri- c i a C l a r k s o n , E m i l y Browning, and Adriana Barraza. Monica, the char- a c t e r p l a y e d b y T r a c e Lysette, is a trans woman who is a massage therapist by day and a sex worker at n i g h t . W h i l e s h e w a s e x p e l l e d f r o m t h e f a m i l y years prior, her life takes a d i f f e r e n t t u r n a s s h e receives a call from her sis- ter-in-law and learns that not only is her mother seri- ously ill, but she has little time left to live. Eugenia, M o n i c a ' s m o t h e r , w h o h a s n ' t s e e n h e r d a u g h t e r since her gender transition, i s c o g n i t i v e l y i m p a i r e d because of the brain tumor that is taking her life and, as a result, she thinks of Moni- ca as a caregiver. Monica, so, makes the tough decision of hiding her identity. No one has told the mother that Monica is the child she had refused, even though there is a moment in the movie when Eugenia may be hint- ing she knows what's going on. There's a sense of dignity b o t h w o m e n t r y t o k e e p throughout the two-hours d r a m a , w h i l e t h e y b o t h experience pain for different reasons. The movie follows the two stories as they come together and part away in a sequence of events: Monica tries hard to build connec- tions with her brother's fam- ily, while Eugenia finds a reason to stay alive thanks to her grandchildren. D u r i n g t h e t i m e s p e n t answering questions from t h e a u d i e n c e a t t h e I I C , Director Pallaoro explains h o w t h e m o v i e w a n t s t o show a way for everyone "to find that sense of identity and dignity that we should all have for ourselves." And c o n t i n u e d : " I s e t o u t t o explore these things through the light of three different women. Through them and their stories, we can find a paradigm and see ourselves, m a y b e u n d e r s t a n d m o r e about our own experience. M o n i c a h a s s o m e h o w a n extreme story, but I believe that everyone experiences, to a certain degree, those dynamics. Through Moni- ca's extreme paradigm, we can see and learn something about ourselves we maybe didn't know about before." Pallaoro shares how one of the sources of the movie is a friend he met when he moved to Los Angeles at the age of 21. It felt natural to use the settings offered by A m e r i c a , w i t h l i f e o n t h e coast as well as the one in the Midwest. This is a uni- versal story, as it could be happening in Italy, perhaps with different behaviors or settings, but following the same general dynamics. W h e n a s k e d a b o u t t h e choice for the actress play- i n g M o n i c a , P a l l a o r o explains: "It took a very long t i m e t o f i n d t h e o n e w h o could embody the character the way we envisioned it. A f t e r a y e a r , f r o m t h e moment Trace auditioned a n d w h e n w e m a d e t h e choice, I understood I had found the person that could s c o p e t h e c h a r a c t e r a n d b r i n g i t t o l i f e . I t w a s a n instinctual feeling: I found m a n y c a n d i d a t e s w h o impressed me for one rea- son or another, yet I could not commit until I found Trace Lysette. Once that was done, other actresses got onboard with the project, too. That confirmed our ini- tial assumptions." As the movie progresses, r e l a t i o n s h i p s e v o l v e a n d Monica finds a way to reveal herself in front of the family: "Very often, when I am deal- i n g w i t h p e o p l e w h o a r e close in my life, I find that words can go so far, often- times they don't reveal the intimacy and the sincerity as much as other ways of com- m u n i c a t i o n w e h a v e . T h e way we touch, our body lan- guage. As mentioned, I was inspired by someone that has been part of my life: I met this woman who invited me to live with her for six months and I could observe the way she would behave with people around her and it was similar to what we see in the movie. At that time, I d i d n ' t k n o w I ' d m a k e a m o v i e a b o u t h e r b u t t h a t observation left a mark and a fascination that I brought with this character, includ- ing the way she communi- cated with both words and gestures." When it comes to the end of the movie, we don't know if Monica will ever find love and happiness again. "The last frame is a consequential one: we see Monica with her nephew. There is a projec- tion in her eyes of both wish and hope she will never have to endure the same drama a g a i n i n l i f e . U p t o t h a t moment, we saw the dynam- ics of the family however, at the end, we see more clearly the role that society plays and how it interferes with our choices and who we are. Most times, that is the rea- son for certain dynamics we see in people's lives. What Monica will do or feel, I'd like to leave it to the audi- ence to decide. One of the most powerful things that movies can do is to give the audience the possibility to decide what to think or to feel about a story. It allows us to build an intimate rela- tionship with a character. That's where the opportunity is for me as director, and t h a t ' s w h y I d e c i d e d t h e movie would end this way." Italian director Andrea Pallaoro on the red carpet (Photo: Andrea Raffin/ Shutterstock) Director Pallaoro's latest movie, Monica, explores family, relationships, and dignity SERENA PERFETTO SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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