The Double Hour

The Double Hour  It's All in Your Head

directed by Giuseppe Capotondi

starring Ksenia Rappaport and Filippo Timi

Where to start with this wonderful offering from Italian director Capotondi. The film is rich, multi layered and beautiful put together. It resounds with European charm and has an endearing 1980's visual quality. We follow the female lead Sonia (Rappaport)  as she winds her way through loneliness and solitude attempting to carve out a new life for herself in Turin. She is a pretty woman on the verge of being beautiful and we watch her quietly as she endures the averageness of her own existence. She struggles to learn Spanish in her small and inexpensive apartment just as she struggles in all aspects of her little life. A toilet cleaner by trade we see things are not quite right for her from the perfectly executed opening scene. When not working she spends her spare time swimming, speed dating and socialising with her equally loveless and soul-mate searching workmate Margherita.

Before long Sonia meets the charming and slightly mysterious Guido (Timi). An ex-cop widower  who likewise wanders through his own life looking for meaning and love. The film has touches of  Mike Leigh as it seems to be a sober character study of two very ordinary people traversing the simple act of living. However what The Double Hour achieves, and hints at achieving early on, is that this is no ordinary film and the viewer is warned not to get too comfortable in their expectations and be prepared to be taken on a very curious ride.

Being careful not to give any of the wonderful plot away, the film insists the viewer pay attention as it constantly suggests different experiences and does so in an extraordinarily subtle fashion. Themes of guilt, fate, madness and meaninglessness glide in and out of this intriguing tale and as they are explored we are treated to shades of Lars Von Trier's Kingdom (1992) as well as Krzysztof Kieslowski's  Three Colours Blue (1992).

As a reviewer it is a real pleasure to watch a film which will not allow you to get comfortable and settle in. With The Double Hour there is a sense that the mysteries will all become clear in the next scene.  Or the next or the next. Although it moves slowly at it's own pace, it is never abstract or boring, but rather intriguing  and somewhat magnetic. The viewer wants to know exactly what it is that they're watching and it is a fascinating exercise to be both out of the loop and simultaneously engaged at the same time.  

It is a small but very effective film which comes from an Italian tradition of telling everyday stories through rather unusual methods. The results are both unique and highly compelling. It would be hard to see such a film being made in Australia with this much precision and originality. This is champagne Euro existentialism, thrown in with mild elements of suspense and just a hint of horror. It really is something quite unique and with a few extra watts on the lighting every now and then, it could have been perfect.