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Emerging Italian director Giovanni Tortorici, whose feature debut “Diciannove” made a splash last year after launcing from the Venice Horizons section, is in competition at the Locarno Film Festival with his followup,
“Ketticè,” a coming-of-age drama set in 2012 Palermo, featuring Monica Bellucci who is among the film’s few professional actors.
“Ketticè” explores the dynamics between two local sixteen-year-olds, Ketty and Giulio, who are from very different social backgrounds. They build an exclusive friendship that largely consists of getting stoned on pot that they buy from a street dealer in a Palermo housing project, an act that gives them “a shared refuge in their search for freedom, away from the judging eye of the adult world,” says the synopsis.
The film’s title, “Ketticè,” refers to Ketty’s nickname, in Sicilian dialect.
Tortorici, who is 30, relied on street casting for most of the film’s roles, the main ones being Rachele Testagrossa and Salvatore Gallina, who respectively play Ketty and Giulio.
He spoke toVariety about depicting young teens in Palermo circa 2012, a time “marked by political stagnation, cultural numbness and the first pervasive impact of social media,” working with Bellucci, and getting guidance from Luca Guadagnino.
Your first feature “Diciannove,” which means “Nineteen,” is about a 19-year-old and somewhat autobiographical. This one is about two 16-year-old kids from different social classes in Palermo. Does “Ketticè” also stem from personal experiences?
Yes, this film was born a bit by chance. After I made “Diciannove,” I came across a screenplay I’d written when I was younger, around 22, that was about 16-year-olds. I had zeroed in on lots of dynamics, expressions, mannerisms, that I’d actually even forgotten about. So I started thinking a lot about that period and everything that being 16 had entailed for me. Being in high school, growing up in Palermo, and so on. I wanted to delve deeper and reconstruct a bit of that whole reality. All those relationships and the powerplay that characterized that period. It gave me the opportunity to explore things that I hadn’t touched on in my previous film because, after all, it’s a much more ensemble-based work. And it’s less intellectual. Powerplay, as I was saying, at that age is much clearer. For example, in the protagonists’ relationship with parents, with school, with government control. When they smoke weed, they are always worried about being seen and being monitored by the police with surveillance cameras.
Talk to me about Ketty. She likes to fight and is related to a member of the Mafia.
Ketty comes from a very different background than Giulio in Palermo. She’s working-class Palermo, and her behaviour, attitude and approach to life are almost radically opposed to those of the upper middle class or the city’s aristocracy, which is where Giulio comes from. In short her psychology, her behaviour fit into a different mould than Giulio. For example, the fact that she likes to physically fight is in total contrast to Giulio’s upbringing. He’s see very physically controlled, with his mother telling him to keep his elbows down at the dinner table and not to gesticulate with his hands. In short, there is a clear contrast between these two characters which is why they are attracted to each other.
Giulio’s mother is played by Monica Bellucci, one of the film’s few professional actors. Can you describe your inspiration for the character she plays and what is was like working with Monica?
Let’s say that I drew a lot of inspiration from real life. I’ve known many of these upper-class Sicilian women. They have a very particular character. In public, they are very elegant and well-mannered attitude. But then in their private lives, within the walls of their homes, they become pretty eccentric and even slightly violent. I’ve known many of these women, and I think it’s a transnational, class thing, rather than a territorial thing just in Palermo. When we were thinking about who could play this role, it was a bit difficult to imagine a non professional actress, and that’s when I thought of Monica Bellucci. Having known her, both in person and on the screen, I could envision her very well as this character.
How was it working with Monica?
As soon as we started rehearsing she immediately confirmed to me that she had understood the character very well and very deeply, within her own psychology. I think she gave a very intelligent, very realistic interpretation, even if the character is a bit eccentric. I have to say that when I showed the film to people who also know this aristocratic world, they told me that they found a lot of truth in her performance.
Luca Guadagnino, who is your partner, has served as a producer on both of your features. Does he give you advice?
I have to say that generally the type of advice Luca gives is very maieutic [relating to the Socratic method of helping a person bring forth hidden ideas and knowledge through questions]. In the sense that maybe he doesn’t tell you specific things about a certain problem, but he tries to draw them out from within you. Then, through dialogue, he helps you understand what you really want, or are looking for. What you think is right for the film. So he’s like a kind of psychoanalyst who can help you discern what might be an external influence, or what might be something you are holding back on out of prudence, or even cowardice. So I think that it’s quite special. It’s a method that values the author’s personal point of view, and he has definitely given me a lot of help through this method.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
