Claudio Cupellini’s A Quiet Life is a masterful turning of the screw, a quietly evolving tale of vengeful ghosts of the past returning to claim a darkened soul from his temporary state of grace. Rosario (Toni Servillo) has much to envy: a successful business, a beautiful wife, and a growing, healthy son. But how long can this pristine independence last?

When a couple of young men appear at his rural restaurant asking for him, a telling reaction wordlessly discloses a link to one of them in particular, Diego (Marco D’Amore). Diego’s hot-headed accomplice Edoardo (Francesco Di Leva) is a complication for Rosario who makes positive intimations of wanting to help this young man he obviously knows, but beyond earshot of his testy companion.

The film creeps along, initially building a foundation from its strongest element, that of compelling intrigue. What lingers in Rosario’s past? What connection does this newcomer have to him? There’s a strong sense of atmosphere established in the early stages: Cupellini refuses to spell things out, allowing tiny clues to brush against one another, before slowly forging less tentative connections. But the inevitable cause and effect leads to ramifications that reverberate.

The exquisite pacing and attention to detail are what elevate A Quiet Life. The final scenes are given a palpable weight, an emotional payoff that both clarifies and complicates with bittersweet repurcussions. Perhaps the resolution has an air of inevitability about it but there’s no impression of being cheated by the path Cupellini chooses for his protagonist.

Servillo is sublime, rendering Rosario as a man of contrary values. The presumption of deeds past is erased by a dignity that has clearly disciplined him; the stability of his present life comes across not as a veneer but an immovable front. In comparison Diego lacks sophistication, a fact that may be partly responsible for engineering a downfall once the link that betrays them is flushed into the light. A Quiet Life (2010) is a cracking film; it'll certainly be difficult to toss as the film of this year's Festival.



I say: A slow-burn drama that is meticulously composed as if a tone poem for lost causes.

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