In Saturno Contro, the director Özpetek reproposes the convivial atmospheres that are a leitmotif of his work where heterogeneous groups of friends live almost like an extended family, with their own habits, experiences, vices and virtues. Lorenzo (Luca Argentero) and Davide (Pierfrancesco Favino) live in Ostiense, a neighbourhood in Rome beloved by the director who also lives there. The couple’s kitchen, where Davide enjoys making dinner for his friends in the early part of the film, is Özpetek’s own. The gazometro, a metal structure and symbol of the neighbourhood, appears behind Antonio (Stefano Accorsi) as he drives up after buying champagne for yet another evening with friends in the apartment in via Ostiense.
On the surface everything appears perfect, however just around the corner lies the risk that an off-day can ruin a series of delicate balances. And so it is that Lorenzo, in piazza di San Marcello, risks unwittingly betraying Antonio while he is on the phone to his wife Angelica (Margherita Buy). He has just seen him kiss another woman (Isabella Ferrari), the owner of a flower shop in via del Bergamaschi, not far from the Unicredit-Banca di Roma building in via del Corso where Antonio works. Several scenes later, the pair will furtively go to piazza di Pietra, passing by the Temple of Hadrian, to slip into a storeroom. Later, the inauguration of a building in piazza Farnese, right next to the Church of St. Bridgit, will reveal the subterfuge engaged to carry off the event. And, much later, an evening of celebration becomes a tragedy that ends in hospital (the policlinico of Tor Vergata) and changes the characters’ lives forever.
The latter part of the film features a distinctive change of scene: featuring a villa with a stunning view at San Felice Circeo where Davide is joined by his usual group of friends. The cliff edge where Davide sobs the loss of his partner is not near the villa as it may appear in the film but some 50km further south in the Sanctuary della Santissima Trinità alla Montagna Spaccata in Gaeta.
In Saturno Contro, the director Özpetek reproposes the convivial atmospheres that are a leitmotif of his work where heterogeneous groups of friends live almost like an extended family, with their own habits, experiences, vices and virtues. Lorenzo (Luca Argentero) and Davide (Pierfrancesco Favino) live in Ostiense, a neighbourhood in Rome beloved by the director who also lives there. The couple’s kitchen, where Davide enjoys making dinner for his friends in the early part of the film, is Özpetek’s own. The gazometro, a metal structure and symbol of the neighbourhood, appears behind Antonio (Stefano Accorsi) as he drives up after buying champagne for yet another evening with friends in the apartment in via Ostiense.
On the surface everything appears perfect, however just around the corner lies the risk that an off-day can ruin a series of delicate balances. And so it is that Lorenzo, in piazza di San Marcello, risks unwittingly betraying Antonio while he is on the phone to his wife Angelica (Margherita Buy). He has just seen him kiss another woman (Isabella Ferrari), the owner of a flower shop in via del Bergamaschi, not far from the Unicredit-Banca di Roma building in via del Corso where Antonio works. Several scenes later, the pair will furtively go to piazza di Pietra, passing by the Temple of Hadrian, to slip into a storeroom. Later, the inauguration of a building in piazza Farnese, right next to the Church of St. Bridgit, will reveal the subterfuge engaged to carry off the event. And, much later, an evening of celebration becomes a tragedy that ends in hospital (the policlinico of Tor Vergata) and changes the characters’ lives forever.
The latter part of the film features a distinctive change of scene: featuring a villa with a stunning view at San Felice Circeo where Davide is joined by his usual group of friends. The cliff edge where Davide sobs the loss of his partner is not near the villa as it may appear in the film but some 50km further south in the Sanctuary della Santissima Trinità alla Montagna Spaccata in Gaeta.
R&C Produzioni, Faros Film, AFS Film (Istanbul), UGC-YM (Parigi)
A group of friends, similar in character and social extraction, often meet up for dinner at Lorenzo and Davide’s house, a happy and stable couple. When Lorenzo is taken ill, their lives change in one moment.
