First Love (2004 Italian film)

Primo Amore
Primo Amore
Directed by	Matteo Garrone
Written by	Matteo Garrone ; Massimo Gaudioso
Produced by	Domenico Procacci
Starring	Vitaliano Trevisan ; Michela Cescon
Cinematography	Marco Onorato
Edited by	Marco Spoletini
Music by	Banda Osiris
Release date	13 February 2004
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

First Love (Italian: Primo Amore) is an Italian 2004 erotic body horror drama film directed by Matteo Garrone and Massimo Gaudioso, loosely based on the autobiographical novel by . The film deals with anorexia nervosa.

Plot[]

Vittorio (Vitaliano Trevisan) is a goldsmith looking for a very thin woman to make golden figurines of. He meets a model, Sonia (Michela Cescon), whom he finds too fat. Somehow he manages to convince her to lose weight to an unhealthy degree...

Production[]

Michela Cescon actually lost 15 kilograms (over 30 pounds) in weight during the making of the film, as the director wanted.^[1]

Awards[]

The score won Banda Osiris the 2004 Silver Berlin Bear for Best Film Music. The band won at other festivals, too. At the Flaiano Film Festival, Michela Cescon won for Best Actress and Marco Onorato won for Best Cinematography.

Reception[]

The film "has been described as “a horror movie about desire,” which seems fitting."^[2] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times finds this film "an elegantly told tale of obsession that, in failing to take on any larger meaning, rapidly becomes depressing to watch."^[3] Thomas and others are confused as to "why she [Sonia] strives so mightily to please someone so obviously insane."

References[]

^ Projected Shadows: Psychoanalytic Reflections on the Representation of Loss in European Cinema, p. 48, p. 48, at Google Books
^ Abrams, Danielle (2007-10-23). "Primo Amore". Italian Film blog. Retrieved 2007-11-10. "The director takes an uncomfortably close look at obsessive love, further complicated by the troubled characters’ various psychological issues."
^ Kevin Thomas, "Capsule Reviews: 'Primo Amore,' 'The Man Who Copied' and 'The Painting'" Los Angeles Times April 29, 2005

External links[]

Primo Amore at IMDb

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[1] Projected Shadows: Psychoanalytic Reflections on the Representation of Loss in European Cinema, p. 48, p. 48, at Google Books

[2] Abrams, Danielle (2007-10-23). "Primo Amore". Italian Film blog. Retrieved 2007-11-10. "The director takes an uncomfortably close look at obsessive love, further complicated by the troubled characters’ various psychological issues."

[3] Kevin Thomas, "Capsule Reviews: 'Primo Amore,' 'The Man Who Copied' and 'The Painting'" Los Angeles Times April 29, 2005

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