Rome, 1970s: a world which straddles new neighbourhoods being created, TV variety shows still in black&white, societal advances and family models that now seem outdated. Clara and Felice have just moved into a new apartment. Their marriage has reached a point of no return: they no longer love each other, but they can’t seem to leave each other either. Their children are the only thing that keeps them together, the same children that are the syphon for all of Clara’s dreams of freedom. Adriana, the eldest, has just turned twelve; Clara’s mood swings and the growing tensions between her parents play out before her watchful gaze. Adriana is in a state of refusal of her name and her identity, and her dogged pursuit of trying to convince everyone that she is a boy brings the already fragile stability of her family to breaking point. As the children search around them for guidance – be it a voice from above or a song on the TV – everything changes, both inside and outside of themselves.
Official Selection
Venice Film Festival, 2022
“Everything in “L’Immensità” is beautiful even when everything wasn’t: Crialese’s odd, affecting memory piece layers the world as it was, is and could be in the same gilded frame.”
Guy Lodge
Variety
"a story of quiet desperation and secret yearning in the hearts of teens and the middle-aged alike”
Peter Bradshaw
The Guardian
"There is a visceral, cheesy thrill in seeing Penelope Cruz playing a go-go girl while Adri lip-syncs to Italian television’s answer to Johnny Cash.”
Stephanie Bunbury
Deadline