In our lives if we are lucky, we’ll meet teachers who inspire us above all else. The effects that they leave are indelible as they push us to become the best version of ourselves. That position of power is an incredible thing, and one which is open to exploitation.
Pietro Vella (Elio Germano) is just such a teacher at a Roman high school, inspiring his students to the point of their adoration. Possibly his most gifted pupil ever is the shy but brilliant Teresa (Federica Rosellini), someone destined to leave her mark on the world as well as on Pietro. After graduation, the two begin a taboo yet loving relationship where he pushes her further. One drunken night after an argument, Teresa suggests they tie themselves together forever by sharing their deepest most personal secret. Hers is terrible but Pietro‘s might just be life ruining.
The next day Teresa leaves, abruptly ending their two year relationship. Life goes on and the two both grow as people. Pietro weds a fellow teacher, has a child and becomes a spokesman for school reform. Teresa becomes a respected professor of mathematics in the USA. Yet forever bonded by their secrets, Pietro knows at any moment his life can come crashing down, something which Teresa is perfectly happy to remind him of again and again.
Trust (Confidenza) was the preview night special for the 2024 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival. Based on the 2019 book by Domenico Starnone, this is the latest work from prolific Italian filmmaker Daniele Lucchetti which won the Italian Golden Globe for Best Actor and Best Screenplay, delivering a chilling story accompanied by a riveting score by Thom Yorke.
Yes, THAT Thom Yorke of the alternative rock band Radiohead. What seems like a peculiar pairing actually works extremely well. Yorke previously delivered the soundtrack to the supernatural horror film, Suspiria (2018) and that film’s subject matter may have felt a bit more welcoming to such an artist as Yorke. Yet here, he delivers an absolutely haunting score which stuck with me long after the credits rolled. Possibly the greatest transition to film scoring by a popular artist since Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails scored The Social Network in 2010.
Yorke‘s scoring accompanies Lucchetti‘s masterful framing of what feels like a simple enough story, but the building of tension, self-loathing and paranoia transforms Trust (Confidenza) into a nail-biting psychological thriller by its finale. The power play between Pietro and Teresa, that of teacher and student, shifts so Teresa holds all the cards with our opinion of Pietro shifting along with it. Does Pietro deserve what he is being put through or is Teresa just a wildly loose cannon?
The incredible make-up effect ages the characters over the decades so well, I legitimately thought the opening ‘flash forward’ featured completely different senior actors. Performances are stellar with Germano‘s Golden Globe win being well deserved. A confident man torn down to nothing by someone he once held all the power over.
Rosellini‘s Teresa has to be one of the best antagonists I’ve seen all year. She features sporadically in the film’s second half, yet her mischievous grin is terrifying whenever we see her, like a Cheshire cat playing with her mouse. Still torn between the love she has for the man she once saw as a god; Teresa seemingly has a desire to tear him apart.
This is where the message behind the film is left to the eye of the beholder. Many fantasy scenes play out as we see what Pietro wishes or what he fears in vivid detail. It makes us question just how much of this nightmare is self-imposed as his own anxieties play with the mind of a guilty man.
Like Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Tell-tale Heart,’ Trust (Confidenza) is a story of a prison of the protagonist’s own making. One which shines a light on the power someone holds over you when they know you at your worst. A fascinating watch with great direction, acting and an evocative score to seal the deal.
Trust (Confidenza) will be screening as part of the 2024 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival which begins nationally the end of the month until October.
For specific dates, the programme and session times, visit:
https://italianfilmfestival.com.au