Corpo Celeste
Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Writer: Alice Rohrwacher
Cast: Yile Yara Vianello, Salvatore Cantalupo, Pasqualina Scuncia, Anita Caprioli, Renato Carpentieri, Maria Trunfio, Paola Lavini, Giovanni Federico, Maria Luisa De Crescenzo
Seen on: 30.3.2025

Content Note: animal cruelty/death

Plot:
Marta (Yile Yara Vianello) just moved back to Southern Italy with her mother Rita (Anita Caprioli) and her sister Rosa (Maria Luisa De Crescenzo), but she struggles to adjust. Her mother isn’t doing well and her sister is trying to keep Marta away from her in an attempt to protect Rita. And everybody is expecting Marta to attend a Catholic confirmation class, ostensibly to connect with people her age. But Marta, who grew up in Italy, struggles with the catechism just as much as with her family situation.

Corpo Celeste is Rohrwacher’s debut film, but you’d never know it from the self-assured calmness that it shows. It would have been an impressive film even for a seasoned veteran in film-making, but for a debut, it is pretty astounding.

Corpo Celeste is entirely in the „show, don’t tell“ line of storytelling. You could probably watch it without understanding a word and you would still understand what is going on. A lot of the film does without any dialogue in the first place anyway. For this to work, the film needs clarity in purpose and characters, and Rohrwacher has both in spades.

Of course, she didn’t make the film alone, and Vianello – who has her debut here, too – does more than her fair share to make Marta understood. Her emotional presence anchors the film, and my heart ached for her when her sister treates her so very unfairly again (although both I and the film know very well that her sister did the best she could under the circumstances, as did her mother). I was also just as horrified as Marta when she witnesses the treatment of the cats (probably the toughest moment in the entire film).

There is a sly sense of humor in the film, one that barely registers as humorous but that nevertheless helps the film from becoming too dark and too morose. As does the tinge of hopefulness that comes at the end. No matter her difficult family circumstances, Marta will find a way. Whether that way is without the Catholic church or with a changed church, the film leaves open. But it doesn’t really matter because it is Marta’s way and not a universal one.

Summarizing: excellent film.