The real news is that this time Gabriele Muccino surprises, choosing a different way in telling the story and directing its actors. In his latest film, The things left unsaidemotions no longer pass only through the usual screaming scenes that have often characterized his cinema. There is still some slack, but without ever being as excessive as in the past. Perhaps also thanks to the presence and sensitivity of Miriam Leone, who was present in the room at the Milanese premiere together with Claudio Santamariatold the public this short and significant dialogue with the director. When Muccino proposed the part of Elisa to her, she told him: «I accept. But Gabriele, I don’t scream.” And he replied: “Okay, I promise you that you will only scream twice, but a lot.”
Gabieele Muccino, center, with the cast of the film.
Muccino thus returns to talk about a theme that he loves and perhaps knows well: relationships in crisis, marriages that go on out of habit, parents who struggle to understand their children. But this time he does it with a more restrained, less shouty style. There is tension, there is anticipation, there is a psychological thriller atmosphere and a question that accompanies the viewer until the end.
The protagonists are two adult married couples (Elisa and Carlo, without children, and Anna and Paolo, parents of Vittoria, an angry teenage daughter). All are bearers of truths left unresolved. Claudio Santamaria, who plays Paolo and who has worked with Muccino for years, explains it: «The things left unsaid are small pebbles that over time become avalanches». It’s like this in everyday life too: a word is postponed, a confrontation is avoided, and in the meantime the discomfort grows. Miriam Leone adds: «When you stop communicating, the unsaid enters the house like an invisible gas». And it is precisely because of these silences that history keeps us in suspense, because a at a certain point something serious happens, which forces all the characters to deal with themselves, with their partner or with their daughter.
A story that reminds us how important it is, in families and couples, to find the courage to say things in time, before what is left unsaid becomes too heavy and the consequences inevitable. Catastrophe is, from the beginning, at hand and inevitable. «The ending is the extreme consequence of everything that has not been addressed», added Claudio Santamaria while conversing with the audience in the room. «But even after a catastrophe some part of us can be saved. The film generates anxiety and leaves uneasiness, but also the possibility of thinking that we can start again”, concluded Miriam Leone positively. We add that the ending leaves room for personal reflection, inviting everyone to ask themselves how they would have behaved in the protagonists’ place.
Things Unsaid was born from the novel Syracuse (Neri Pozza), written by the American Delia Ephron, and perhaps also for this reason the screenplay and the plot are extremely convincing.
The actors are all very good and credible, and you can sense the close-knit group working together. The backdrop is Tangier, a city described as bright and fascinating, which makes the story even more evocative. Its streets, the sea, the light accompany the characters in numerous moments of great confusion, and we cannot exclude that, thanks to the film, it will soon become a sought-after holiday destination (highly recommended among other things by the two actors…).
