The Life Apart


The Life Apart is a 2024 Italian drama film co-written and directed by Marco Tullio Giordana, starring Sonia Bergamasco and Valentina Bellè. The film was released in Italian cinemas on 22 August 2024.

Plot

, 1980. When Maria discovers she is pregnant, she happily announces her pregnancy to her husband Osvaldo. Everything goes well until the baby girl, who they will call Rebecca, is born with a large red spot on her face.

Cast

The film is based on the novel with the same name by. Giordana became involved in the project through screenwriter and producer Marco Bellocchio. Principal photography started in Vicenza in July 2023.

Release

The film premiered out of competition at the 77th Locarno Film Festival. It was released in Italian cinemas on 22 August 2024.

Reception

Matthew Joseph Jenner from International Cinephile Society gave the film a 3½ out of 5 rating, noting that "Giordana has made a film that is essentially told in tragedies and melodies, with a simple premise that touches on many complex ideas in a way that is incredibly striking. The film manages to be simultaneously sweeping in scope and intimate in emotion, which it achieves through focusing on the most raw and heart-wrenching depictions of the experiences of the protagonist and her family as they navigate the uncertain path that lies before them. This creates an unusual but undeniably moving depiction of the passage of time, as well as providing an oddly optimistic outlook".
Cineuropa's Camillo De Marco wrote: "Bellocchio's writing can definitely be gleaned in some of the film’s dramatic emphases, notably the obsession with family relations and the hypocrisies of religion. But Giordana's adaptation of the text “adjusts” the movie's approach to explore the body, human weakness and the impossibility of communicating via a film about things unsaid, which is why the choice and direction of the cast was so crucial".