Bella addormentata, 2012, Marco Bellocchio (Foto: Francesca Fago)

Premiere:

"Bella addormentata" by Marco Bellocchio

January 26 and 27, 2017

"For over 40 years, Marco Bellocchio has been approaching the political through the personal. And regardless of whether his films are set in the past or the present, all of Italy always seems to be going to pieces." (Michael Kienzl) This statement is perfectly illuminated by Bella addormentata (2012), Bellocchio's most recent major work starring Isabelle Huppert, Alba Rohrwacher und Toni Servillo, which hasn't yet seen theatrical release in Austria.

The film's point of departure is a real-life euthanasia case that led to turmoil in the director's native country. For seventeen years, Eluana Englaro lay in a coma following a car accident without any hope of improvement. When her father went to court to fight for the right to remove his daughter from life support, Catholics and conservative politicians raged.