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Magnificat

A collection of low-key vignettes woven around a medieval Italian town during Passion Week, "Magnificat" should please faithful acolytes of helmer Pupi Avati's distanced style, but won't raise many hallelujahs beyond art sites.

A collection of low-key vignettes woven around a medieval Italian town during Passion Week, “Magnificat” should please faithful acolytes of helmer Pupi Avati’s distanced style, but won’t raise many hallelujahs beyond art sites.

Set in Tuscany, 926 A.D., picture zeroes in, after a discursive start, on a handful of characters trekking to Malfole, site of an abbey with religious links to the Virgin Mary. Intertwining of various stories builds to a patchwork portrait of 10th century faith and manners.

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Motley collection of pilgrims includes a heavily pregnant royal concubine (Dalia Lahav), hoping to produce a male heir to the throne; a local lord (Luigi Diberti) who’s had premonitions of his death and decides to roll over on his late wife’s burial spot; a 14-year-old girl (Eleonora Alessandrelli) being handed over to a monastery by her family; and the regional executioner and his apprentice (Arnaldo Ninchi, Massimo Sarchielli), for whom it’s business as usual.

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In its mixture of ritualism and genuine locations, pic partly recalls the early works of Pasolini, without that director’s political subtexts.

Only types who get a real shot at building personalities are the pretty teenage girl, mutely accepting the monastic life, and the executioners, who share pleasantries with a wife-murderer en route to Malfole before hacking him into little pieces in a public execution.

Though nominally concerned with the characters’ search for faith and God in everything, pic can also be read more cynically in agnostic terms: God dumps pretty frequently on this group of Italian peasants.

Despite measured pacing, and a tendency not to explain things for general viewers, pic has a calm, serene quality (plus a sly humor in places) that staves off boredom.

It’s always a pleasure to watch, thanks to Cesare Bastelli’s attractive lensing of the crumbling, sun-baked Tuscan locations, and editing that doesn’t linger needlessly. Costume design is a further plus, especially given the movie’s obviously limited budget.

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Magnificat

(Italian -- Historical drama -- Color)

  • Production: A Duea Film production, in association with Istituto Luce-Italnoleggio Cinematografico/Penta Film/Union P.N. (Intl. sales: Cine Electra, London.) Produced by Antonio Avati. Directed, written by Pupi Avati.
  • Crew: Camera (Technovision , Eastmancolor), Cesare Bastelli; editor, Amedeo Salfa; music, Riz Ortolani; art direction, Giuseppe Pirrotta; costume design, Sissi Parravicini; sound, Raffaele De Luca; assistant director, Gianni Amadei. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (competing), May 16, 1993. Running time: 96 min.
  • With: Lord of Malfole ... Luigi Diberti Folco ... Arnaldo Ninchi Margherita ... Eleonora Alessandrelli Baino ... Massimo Bellinzoni Roza ... Dalia Lahav Venturina ... Lorella Morlotti Margherita's father ... Massimo Sarchielli Lord of Campodose ... Brizio Montinaro Agateo ... Marcello Cesena Abbess ... Consuelo Ferrara Lord of Manfole ... Andrea Scorzoni Bagnaro ... David Celli

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