In a nod to the young Roman writer/director Margherita Vicario’s vision, she delivers one of the year’s best punk rock moments in a film, albeit set in 18th-century Venice! This is her directorial debut and she has a lot of fun with both the times and the concept of Girl Power way before it became a thing.
Teresa (Galatéa Bellugi) is a young servant girl at a musical school for orphans. She is mute but seems to love music, she also appears to be suffering from some sort of trauma. When she discovers a brand new pianoforte in a storeroom that was gifted to the school, she sits down and begins to tickle the ivories.
Teresa has real musical skills but they come out in a most peculiar way (for the times). When four other students hear her playing in the middle of the night they join forces to play music that is simply enjoyable, not the kind of music drummed into them by their teachers. This runs afoul of the wishes of Perlina (Paolo Rossi), the school director.
The film takes liberties with almost every convention of the times and paints the girls in the school as simple teens possessing talents, hopes and dreams not seen or acknowledged by their superiors. When the school is tasked with presenting a musical programme for the Pope, what results is fantastically entertaining and more than a little rebellious.
Rob Hudson
Gloria! screenings in Brisbane
Palace Barracks
26th September 8:30pm
29th September 3:50pm
3rd October 10:30am
5th October 6:10pm
7th October 3:40pm
11th October 10:40am
13th October 3:40pm
15th October 6:10pm
16th October 3:40pm
Palace James Street
25th September 10:30am
27th September 10:00am
28th September 8:40pm
2nd October 6:00pm
4th October 6:00pm
6th October 2:45pm
10th October 3:40pm
11th October 6:10pm
12th October 6:00pm
14th October 11:00am
2024 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival runs in Brisbane from 19 September – 16 October, and will take place at the Palace James Street and Palace Barracks cinemas.
Click here for more information about the festival, or head to the official website for more information and to book your tickets!
www.italianfilmfestival.com.au
