Ascanio Celestini is not a name I was personally familiar with. But a quick look through the bookshop at the Venice Film Festival reveals that he is an author and performer of some note here in Italy. Perhaps that helps explain why his debut fiction feature,
La pecora nera, has been so hard to see here on the Lido. Yesterday's lavish premiere at the Sala Grande was quickly sold out as members of the public snapped up the tickets before they were made available to press. It was also touch-and-go getting into the only other screening my accreditation would permit, at the equally huge (if rather less lavish) PalaBiennale. Celestini is clearly a popular guy here in Italy, and on the evidence of this feature, an adaptation of his own novel, which he stars in and directs, he has every reason to be. La pecora nera literally translates into English as
The Black Sheep. It is the inventive, funny and tragic tale of Nicola, a boy who grows up the least loved of three sons, and lives near a mental hospital, eventually coming to live there himself. It is a story about madness and sanity. I suppose it is about what sociologists term "labelling theory" - the theory that if you tell or treat somebody as if they are a certain way, they come to fulfil that role. It is often said that being diagnosed as insane becomes impossible to disprove. But what this film looks at is how the same can be said for sanity, with the behaviour of most people in some way questionable or irrational. Especially the nuns who run the hospital, whose Catholicism manifests itself in interesting and amusing ways - such using a phone photo of the Pope on the alter during a service, provoking the need to constantly press a button to prevent the light turning off. Celestini's original book was the product of three years research, interviewing people from psychiatric hospitals and taking down their stories. The result is a film which is filled with authentic and interesting depictions of thought processes and human behaviour. Though it does this without a single po-faced moment. It is, broadly speaking, a comedy. Albeit one with an undercurrent of sadness.
As a performer Celestini is magnetic. One of those actors you just enjoy looking at. The bulk of his career has been spent in theatre and perhaps because of this he is a very gifted physical performer. He is also a cracking writer of dialogue, especially in the case of his over-arching monologue. I also really enjoyed his repetition of certain phrases, such as "the fabulous '60s". As a director he is rather more restrained, although not by any means dull. I should also point out that the young actor who plays Nicolas as a child (newcomer Luigi Fedele) is also really captivating and funny. Both he and Celestini play this guy burdened by an immense imagination, something which is mistaken for stupidity by his school and madness forever after. The most splendid aspect of this is Nicolas' relationship with his childhood sweetheart, Marinella (
Maya Sansa), which is tinged with sadness and regret. Whilst it has screened in competition here, La pecora nera is probably not in serious contention for the Golden Lion. Nor is it too likely to get much foreign distribution (comedy doesn't travel all that well after all). But this is a pity, as it is a sweet film with much to recommend it.
La Pecora Nera is released on October 15th in Italy, with no wider distribution just yet.