L' Envol

Keeping on his singular poetic path made up of ingenious montages and luminous shores of imagination, Pietro Marcello’s latest feature tells the story of a woman’s emancipation and a grand period portrait. L’ENVOL invites us into its gripping world through a series of evocative archive images that highlight the ominous chaos of the First World War. Set against this backdrop is Raphael (excellent: Raphaël Thiéry), a large, taciturn, gentle man, a veteran of the battlefields determined to mend the shreds of his life. Violetta, his little daughter whose existence he ignored, becomes his raison d’être.
In this harsh and violent rural setting sublimated by Marco Graziaplena’s cinematography, which draws on grainy 16mm and natural light, poetry emerges from the rough hands of Raphael, who carves wood like an artist. With a turn of the wheel, the film takes off from a more down-to-earth, naturalistic first part into an almost magical realm made up of Jacques Demy-style songs composed by Gabriel Yared and sung by Violetta, now an adult, where miracles happen and Prince Charming literally falls from the sky on scarlet sails. With a bold and inspired artistic touch, Pietro Marcello grants us seductive entry into an enchanted world, portrayed with compassionate affection. (Maria Giovanna Vagenas)

Pietro Marcello: IL PASSAGGIO DELLA LINEA (2007), LA BOCCA DEL LUPO (2009), IL SILENZIO DI PELESJAN (2011), 9x10 NOVANTA (2011, Episode), LOST AND BEAUTIFUL (2015), MARTIN EDEN (2019), PER LUCIO (2021), FUTURA (2021, Episode)