The lush, breathtaking beauty of the Alps, shot with painterly grace under natural light, from cold winter to redeeming spring, provides the physical and emotional backdrop for “Vermiglio” Maura Delpero’s visionary film, which won the Silver Lion at the 2024 Venice Film Festival
This singular portrait of an extended family, set in the small mountain village of Vermiglio in the waning days of World War II, follows a series of dramatic, consequential events following the arrival of a taciturn Sicilian soldier (Giuseppe De Domenico), who has been hiding out in the town after deserting the army
While there, the soldier develops a love affair with the family’s eldest daughter, Lucia (Martina Scrinzi)
“Vermiglio” shows the lives of a provincial family in a remote village, suspended in time by the customs of a fading era
Conjuring up stories from her own family’s past, Delpero creates a deeply personal and human story that is reminiscent of the great neorealist movement in Italian cinema, but through the perspective of Lucia “Vermiglio”; it feels distinct and new
11/35
