Common Sense Media Review
By Kat Halstead
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Italian coming-of-age drama has death and sexual violence.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
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Alone with Her Dreams
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In ALONE WITH HER DREAMS, Lucia (Marta Castiglia) is left with her grandmother, Nonna Maria (Lucia Sardo), in a small Italian town while her parents emigrate to France to make a better life for them. The 11-year-old Lucia spends much of her time rebelling against her grandmother's strict rules and becoming increasingly curious about a rift in the family that leaves her banned from speaking to her grandmother's sister, her husband, and daughter. But as she gets closer to the forbidden relatives, Lucia becomes part of a violent secret left untold for decades, and it is only when she returns to the village as an adult that she truly begins to understand her grandmother's pain.
Is It Any Good?
A superb Italian drama from debut director Paolo Licata, this movie may be slow-paced, but this only adds to its intensity. Beautifully filmed, with a languid, dreamlike quality that often serves to release Lucia from the gritty realities of day-to-day life, the rugged Sicilian coastline is at once a symbol of wildness and adventure, and danger and isolation. Female repression is a strong theme, a mixture of untold sexual violence and stigmatization lurking beneath the surface as the women of the story go about their lives, each battling with their own secrets and lies.
Sardo is a force to be reckoned with as Nonna Maria, her anger at the world barely contained from one scene to the next. Her pride and determination is reflected in Lucia's strong temperament, causing the two to frequently lock horns. An ominous atmosphere penetrates every scene, from the innocent playing of children to the silence at mealtimes, making Lucia's trusting step across the threshold into darkness an evident tragedy before it has even occurred. Still, captivating, and heartbreaking, yet with moments of warmth, energy, and release, Alone with Her Dreams is a stunning coming-of-age story that will linger long after the final scene fades.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the violence and in particular the sexual violence in Alone with Her Dreams. How was it dealt with in the movie? How did it make you feel? How to talk about sexual harassment with tweens and teens.
Discuss how Nonna Maria behaves toward Lucia. Did your understanding and feelings for Nonna Maria change as the movie went on? How might we apply this to real life? Can you think of a time when your feelings toward someone changed as you learned more about their situation?
Discuss how women are represented in the movie. Which female characters show strength despite their repression? Movies with strong female role models.
How does this Italian film compare to other movies you might have seen. Did you find the subtitles distracting? Would you like to watch more foreign movies?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : October 30, 2020
- Cast : Marta Castiglia , Lucia Sardo , Ileana Rigano
- Director : Paolo Licata
- Studio : Corinth Films
- Genre : Drama
- Run time : 95 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 17, 2021
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