Writer-director Carolina Cavalli’s darkly comic feature debut, which received its world premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, is a deliciously satirical character study of a twentysomething looking for purpose… and maybe also a friend.

Amanda (Benedetta Porcaroli) has returned home to Italy and her family after a few years studying in Paris. It’s her first summer back and it’s clear the long weeks ahead of her are devoid of any plans. She has no friends (the housekeeper is her closest thing to a confidante), doesn’t get along with her family and generally doesn’t seem to fit in. Her mother reminds her of a friend’s daughter whom Amanda was close with as a child. And so, with little else to do and no one to entertain her, Amanda decides to seek her out. Rebecca (Galatéa Belluggi) has not only stayed at home since they were last in contact, her agoraphobia has kept her mostly inside it. The combination of both women’s neuroses only accentuates Amanda’s desire to rekindle the friendship, even if it’s a situation that no one seems likely to profit from.

Cavalli’s offbeat humour complements the film’s vibrant visual style and accentuates its peculiarity. Everything here is a little off-kilter, much like the Greek Weird Wave films of Lanthimos and peers. It is this singular perspective that makes this oddball film so compelling.

The Garden Cinema View:

Amanda embraces and explores the idiosyncrasies of its protagonist and the unusual characters who populate an undefined Northern Italian setting. A surreal fresco of eccentric humanity, the aesthetics of the film shift with Amanda’s emotions, painted in shades at times as exuberant as a Gucci commercial, and at others desaturated as if enveloped in a Yorgos Lanthimos film.

Amanda takes her place amongst a recent pantheon of neurotic lost souls seen in cinemas such as Freddie (Return to Seoul), Signe (Sick of Myself), Julie (The Worst Person in the World), or Pete (All My Friends Hate Me). But Cavalli eschews the naturalism and social horror of these contemporaries in favour of an ironic distance and beautifully rigid frame compositions which soften the landing for both Amanda and the audience as the film revels in its askance look at millennial privilege.

Cast:
Benedetta Porcaroli, Galatéa Bellugi, Giovanna Mezzogiorno