Rating: 4.5/5
Criterion Challenge 2024 | 25/52 | Italian Neorealism
Mrs. Nina Resta leaves her condominium with her son, Pricò. Nina cancels plans with another resident and goes to the park. There, they pass by a puppet show where two puppets fight over a woman they both love, one puppet being the woman’s fiancé. The children laugh as the puppets fight to the death. A toddler cries, and the mother turns his head to look.
Nina lets Pricò ride his sick 40s scooter around, letting other children touch it but never ride it. Meanwhile, Nina meets with Roberto. They make plans to run off together. Nina wants time, but Roberto insists today. They believe they are out of Pricò’s sight, but he sees them talking. Nina tears up but insists otherwise when Pricò notices.
That night, they have dinner with Nina’s husband, Andrea, who runs late for a condo meeting. Before Andrea arrives, the residents complain about the money they have poured into elevator maintenance when it won’t go down. The meeting lead suggests they let the elevator only go up to save money.
Nina puts Pricò to bed, promising they’ll see the puppet show again tomorrow. But when Pricò wakes up the following morning, Andrea is disheveled and running late for work. He meditates on the made bed that appears untouched from the previous evening. Pricò runs to him and looks around.
Your momma isn't here. She's gone.
The other residents speculate on where Nina is, but they all agree she likely ran off with a man. Andrea cannot imagine caring for Pricò alone, so he takes Pricò to live with his aunt. There, the women whisper about their affairs, believing Pricò doesn’t hear them. They give him work to keep him occupied, but he listens to everything they say.
Pricò tries to have a normal childhood but lives in the shadows and ramifications of the choices adults make around him. He carries a guilt that the adults don’t understand and a head full of moments that don’t add up.
Children hear and know more than you think. They may not understand the specifics, but that may cause more suffering than if you are honest with them. Just because they are silent does not make them oblivious.
Many of my childhood memories are things my parents said and did around me — some when awake and some when they thought I was asleep. Both said horrible things about the other, often using my behavior as a reminder of the other’s failings. I was their spitting image, and it wasn’t a good thing.
Unlike later De Sica, the material conditions that underlie the social conflict are not as in the forefront. The film takes place in Italy just after the collapse of fascist rule, and German forces still occupied the country. If the film is allegorical, though, it’s lost on me.
The film’s message is never subtle. It doesn’t need to be. The story verges on melodramatic, but I don’t mind that. What stands out most to me is how authentic its observation of children feels, at least as it relates to my childhood.