The Italian film Perfect Strange (Perfetti scconosciuti) which was In the official competition of this edition of the Cairo International Festival (CIFF) won the Naguib Mahfouz prize yesterday for the best scenario.
It’s almost not a surprise, indeed Perfect Strange Has already won three recovery of the best scenario prizes: at the David di Donatello Awards 2016, at the Golden Ciak Awards 2016 and at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.
This film, directed by Paolo Genovese was co-written by Filippo Bologna, Paola Costella, Paola Mammini, Rolando Ravello and Paolo Genevose himself.
Rome. A couple, Eva and Rocco, parents of a 17 -year -old teenager, prepares to receive dinner three other longtime friends couples: Carlotta and Lele, parents of two young children, Cosimo and Bianca who have just married and finally Peppe, a single sports teacher whose sick friend could not come, while everyone was looking forward to her.
They are at the table, to discuss things and others, to remember memories, to speak of a couple of friends who separated when the wife discovered the infidelity of her spouse through her phone, when EVA has an idea: she offers to play a game: that of putting mobile phones on the table and sharing the texts (by reading them out loud), calls (by responding and The photographs (received through applications) with the other guests.
Even if some seem to agree to play this game, others are very reluctant, but end up resolving themselves for fear that their attitude will attract suspicion from their spouses.
The trailer for the film says it clearly: “We have three lives: a public life, a private life and a secret life”. There was a time when our secret life was sheltered, archived in our memory, no one having access to it. Only today, this secret life is in the memoirs of our PCs, our phones and various applications …
What would happen if these memories began to speak?
This is the idea of this feature film which, during a whole dinner, will make the smartphones speak of these seven friends and make us discover, little by little, their secret lives, their weaknesses, their lies….
At the start of the film, we are shown that in an exception, they have all known each other for very long years, they also share distant common memories, which they evoke from time to time throughout the evening. Theoretically, each of them knows others very well and thinks all about their friends. But do we really know a person?
The title Perfetti scconosciuti ( Perfect Strangers in English) may seem paradoxical. Why such a title when the seven characters have known each other very well and for a very long time? How would they be perfect strangers?
In fact, although at the beginning of the film, they deny it completely, each of them has a secret life that others completely ignore. As the masks fall, each of them, amazed, will discover that in fact, his spouse or his friend is a perfect stranger.
Cosimo will also clearly tell Lele: “We have been friends since childhood. Are you going to finally tell me who you are? »»
Perfect Strange shows how many of us hides things that sometimes may seem harmless, but which are very important. In addition, through the discovery of each other’s secrets, he also engages in a criticism of the couple. These perfect appearance couples are actually couples that dysfunction. Infidelities, frustrations, lies….
Scene of the film Perfect Strangers
On the other hand, one might think that this film is an indictment against these new technologies. Peppe is clearly stated: “These things are ruining our lives on us. They are stealing our private lives from us ”. But in fact this is not the case. These “things” do not steal our lives, but they take up more and more space in our lives.
It is not the technology that pushes us to lie, to hide, to have a secret life … It is ourselves who do it of ourselves. The man has always been like this, he has always had secrets, he has always lied, he has always betrayed, he has always been hypocritical, technology has just simplified things.
At the end, one of the characters accuses the phone of being a black box of our lives. In reality, our black box is at the bottom of ourselves, and today we share it with our phones and various tablets and PC, who become depositaries, which, moreover, runs the risk of being discovered more easily.
The very unexpected fall of the film, which I would not reveal, insists even more on the hypocrisy in which we all live. We live in a world of appearances.
Perfect Strange is a beautiful film, even if the principle of the eight enclosed where friends are discovered is not new, and despite the few shots, it keeps us going and makes you laugh often.
The actors are very good. Their game was very subtle and very realistic. A funny and bitter comedy that makes you think. To have. Hopefully this feature film is in our Tunisian cinemas.
Neïla Driss
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