Sorrentino presents in Naples ‘It was the hand of God’: “Troisi the tutelary deity of the film”

“In this film we laugh and cry. And I’m as excited as my wedding.” Paolo Sorrentino does not hide the emotion in the Neapolitan presentation of ‘It was the hand of God’, his new film, formerly the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and an Oscar candidate for Italy, which arrives in cinemas on the 24th. November, distributed by Lucky Red, and December 15 on Netflix. An autobiographical film that marks a turning point in the director’s cinematography (who returned to shoot in his Naples 20 years after ‘The One Man’) both from a stylistic point of view and for the courage to tell such an intimate and personal story linked to disappearance of his parents when he was still a teenager. “This was a film that could not be told like the others: it was necessary to let the feelings and emotions speak. I left the actors freer, in search of the truth. And then I asked myself: let’s see if I can be like my other colleagues who they get a lot by working a little, “he jokes. With those who ask him how much of his real life has entered the film, Sorrentino jokes: “I will not give the percentages but there is a lot of truth. Feelings and intentions are absolutely real, there is only some chronological forcing because I did not want to tell a time span of 20 years “, underlines the director. Which then sheds light on the cinematographic ‘godfathers’ of the film, from Federico Fellini to Antonio Capuano, both quoted in the plot: “In this film there is no cinematic fetishism. If there is a reference to the director Troisi. It ends like a film. of Troisi. My tutelary deity in this film is Troisi “, he says. right to do it: I turned 50 last year and it seemed to me that I was old and mature enough to tackle a personal film. ” The title of the film ‘It was the hand of God’ is linked to the well-known story of Maradona but also to the story of Sorrentino, because it was a match of Maradona’s Napoli that prevented him from being with his parents in the mountains when both died from fumes. of carbon monoxide. But with Maradona in flesh and blood, both the film and the director in reality practically never met: “I saw him only once in Madrid but he was distracted. He had spent a sleepless night and had been in trouble. . I was never able to talk to him about the film. He was not an easily accessible man. My great regret is not being able to show it to him. ” Produced by Lorenzo Mieli and by Paolo Sorrentino himself for The Apartment, a company of the Fremantle group, ‘It was the hand of God’ is also in Mieli’s words the film of “courage”, even “a twist” in Sorrentino’s cinematography. , which also faces its first collaboration with Netflix. The protagonist of the film played by Filippo Scotti is Fabietto Schisa, an introverted teenager who will look for an alternative to painful and “poor” reality in the cinema. “I hope that the young people who see it – explains Sorrentino – get the fact that the film contains an idea of ​​the future. Never abdicating an idea of ​​the future. This future is always there, even if it is invisible at 17- 18 years”. While Scotti confesses that he prepared for the shooting “looking for my truth and then that of the character” and that he prepared “by listening to the music and seeing the films that Paolo saw in the 80s”. While in the role of the parents there are Teresa Saponangelo and Toni Servillo. “I was promoted in the field by Paolo from a big brother, as he usually defines me, to a father. Twenty years ago – says the actor – I was with Paolo for ‘The extra man’ and in our long and fruitful collaboration it happened more time he told me that sooner or later he would find the right distance to tell this dramatic episode of his life and he said to me: ‘I will ask you to be a father.’ Of course it is exciting to receive such a proposal, but he never asked us to be exactly what is kept in the privacy of his memory. He gave us some ideas. We enjoyed telling some dads who, feeling a little inadequate, end up being nice in their cialtroneria. And then there’s this wife who is so fond of jokes. which makes the couple fun even if they go towards a tragic destiny, “adds Servillo. In the role of a crazy and beautiful aunt there is instead Luisa Ranieri: “I tried to work not so much on the fact that she was crazy – says the actress – but on the pain that this woman felt to the point of wanting to escape from reality. discordant note, the different one, the problem. But also the woman outside the box, the one who can see beyond, who sees what is not there. In the script I had read what Paolo probably wanted from this character. completely trusted. I never even asked Paolo if this aunt ever existed, it was so well written. ” And speaking of pain, Sorrentino confesses that having made a film about his private tragedy was somehow therapeutic: “I have already spent three months presenting it around festivals and always talking about it has made pain become boring. . And this is of great help. Getting bored with something is a good shortcut to not worry about it anymore … Unfortunately – he adds smiling – at the end of the film I have to listen to the stories of similar grief experienced by the spectators “. As for the new Oscar race, Award that the director has already won in 2014 for ‘The great beauty’, Sorrentino relies on a superstitious fatalism: “My attitude – he says – has not changed compared to 7 years ago. variables must coincide to win an Oscar. The march is slow. You live for the day. You can only work at your best and hope that these variables all point in the right direction “, concludes. by Antonella Nesi