In cinemas from Fri 17 Jul 2015
Alice Rohrwacher / Italy / 2015 / 111 minutes
Gelsomina (Maria Alexandra Lungu) will one day inherit her family’s bee-keeping business in this charming coming-of-age tale from Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher.
Gelsomina lives in a huge dilapidated farmhouse in the Italian countryside with her three younger sisters, father, mother and the mysterious Cocò (Sabine Timoteo), living with the family for an unknown reason. The dubious familial equilibrium is soon disrupted by delinquent German teenager Martin (Luis Huilca), who joins the family as part of a youth rehabilitation scheme.
The Wonders depicts the struggles Gelsomina and her family face as their disconnected existence becomes increasingly threatened by the spectres of regulation and modernisation. The title of the film refers to a last chance for the family. “Countryside Wonders” is a competition to find Italy’s “Most Traditional Family”, and the accompanying cash prize offers a way to preserve their way of life if they can just rally together for a common cause.
The film is beautifully shot and acted. The five child actors are perfect for their respective roles, with Lungu in particular excelling as the enigmatic focal point of the film. Sam Louwyck also delivers a complex and nuanced performance as Gelsomina’s foreign-born father. Wolfgang is a man whose friends tease him for having no sons and four daughters, but who unambiguously and proudly describes his eldest as the head of the household.
The Wonders has the feel of a true story. It is not only based to some degree on the childhood of its director, but also on an Italian way of life that completely alien to that of cities such as Milan and Florence. The outside world intrudes on the story in fits and starts, and it is difficult not to emphasise with the dilemma faced by Wolfgang, who at once tries to protect his daughters from the outside world and prepare them for its harsh realities.
The Wonders is a truly unique film with a clear idea of the people, place and community it depicts. Not to mention one of the most heart-pounding scenes of honey spillage that will ever grace the silver screen.