Italian director Laura Bispuri’s Daughter of Mine is a tale of female self-discovery in an emotionally heated Sardinian summer during which a 10-year-old daughter’s affections are torn between her two mothers – the one who gave her birth and her adoptive one.
The film starts with a sequence that follows young Vittoria (Sara Casu) as she purposefully surveys some beach festivities. A mobile camera follows the girl as she enters a rodeo and, walking between the stalls, interrupts a couple having sex in broad daylight.
Vittoria quickly leaves and finds her mother, who is buying candy floss. It is immediately apparent that the resemblance that the red-haired girl bears is not with the handsome, full-figured Tina, but the skinny strawberry blonde Angelica (Alba Rohrwacher), who is drunkenly adjusting her tube mini behind her.
It’s soon established that Angelica is Vittoria’s birth mother, who lives on a run-down farm deep in the countryside. Tina occasionally visits the farm to clean and bring provisions; when she and her husband Umberto (Michele Carboni) agree that “we always did what we could”, it’s clear that this was an informal and pragmatic deal between the usually drunk pleasure-seeker and a couple wanting a child. And it’s been working very well.
This changes when Angelica announces she is being evicted and asks to meet her daughter, just once, before she leaves for the city. Tina agrees, unprepared for the fact that lonely Vittoria will become fascinated with the strange creature before her.
Bispuri and her actresses offer a striking study in contrasts. Tina is a regular churchgoer, and cares for her family while also working in a fishery; while Angelica is outrageous. When she is not on the farm comically berating her animals, or taunting a local horse trader, she is a barfly – constantly seeking sex and free drinks. Yet, unlike Tina, she has a sense of fun that can be adapted to the child, and her itinerary of rock climbing, swimming and dancing to cheesy Italian pop soon draws the girl out of her shell.
The ensuing conflict between the saint and sinner, a woman suddenly afraid of losing her child and one who is surprised to find she has maternal instincts, is deceiving; for the person pulling the strings is Vittoria, a little explorer steadily eyeing the future, who is not so much deciding between the rival mothers but finding her own voice.
Other screenings/events today
At St James Cavalier Cinema:
Somewhere in Tonga at 1pm
Welcome to Sodom at 3pm
Of Fathers & Sons at 5 and 7pm
Ethiopiques – The Revolt of the Soul at 9.15pm
At Embassy Cinemas:
Anchor and Hope at 2pm
Cobain at 4pm
Boys Cry at 6pm
Anchor & Hope at 8.30pm
At Valletta Campus Theatre:
Cries & Whispers at noon
Black Mother at 2.30pm
Angels Wear White at 4.30pm
Black Mother at 6.30pm
Human Flow at 8.45pm
Workshop on empowering through animation
A workshop by Bruno Bouchard will explore the many facets of optical games and animated images using glasses, paper, pencils and hand spinners, showing how these can be used to tell stories and to give a voice to young and old alike.
This workshop is made possible with the support of Aġenzija Żgħażagħ.
Admission is free but limited to 15 participants aged 16 to 25.
It will be held St James Cavalier at 3pm.
Talk on ethics and representation in documentary film-making
Film director and cinematographer Khalik Allah is presenting photographs and clips from his films that illustrate his unique approach to gaining trust, intimacy and access in unrepresented communities.
The talk will be held at St James Cavalier’s Music Room, at 4.30pm.
For tickets, visit www.vallettafilmfestival.com.
Daughter of Mine will be screened at Pjazza Teatru Rjal, Valletta, today at 8.45pm. For tickets and information about other films showing at the Valletta Film Festival, visit vallettafilmfestival.com. The festival, which comes to an end tomorrow, is supported by Arts Council Malta.