Cheltenham International Film Festival
Amusia - part of the Cheltenham International Film Festival
This screening forms part of Cheltenham International Film Festival, which marks its 5th anniversary in 2023. The festival will screen new films from around the world, plus film classics and is adding television, and new live events to its programme, along with guest celebrities.
A dreamlike romance between a young woman who can’t distinguish music and a lonely DJ
What would your life be like if you couldn’t listen to music? If the tonalities of music caused you pain and disorientation? Such a condition is called Amusia, and that is what Livia (Carlotta Gamba) is living with. A condition that has driven her away from friends and family. At the vibrant, neon lit Motel Amor, Livia meets Lucio (Giampiero De Concilio), and a relationship begins to develop. However, Lucio is a DJ for whom music is life. Can the young couple overcome these difficulties?
Set in a small, visually striking Italian town in the 1980’s, this ethereal romance immerses us in Livia’s disconcerting music-less world with evocative sound design and expressive visuals and location work. With a faraway look in her eyes, Carlotta Gamba is a beguiling presence in the central role, while veteran French actress Fanny Ardent is also on fine form as a mother trying to understand the strange undiagnosed malaise inhabiting her daughter.
Director Marescotti Ruspoli will attend the screening.