In Io sto bene, Luxembourg’s submission to the Oscars, Donato Rotunno movingly chronicles how present-day Europe has become more diverse and tolerant, but still presents obstacles for new arrivals and leaves the elderly isolated and lonely. In one eloquent scene, an aging Italian immigrant visits his wife’s grave while a more recent arrival from Africa accompanies him as his caretaker. The cultural dislocation cycle continues, generation after generation, in a world still split by wealth and cultural divides. The film bowed at the Rome Film Festival.
Donato Rotunno’s previous feature film, Baby (a) lone, was also submitted to the Academy Awards in 2015. In Io sto bene he directs a film that spans two generations of Italian immigrants settling in one of Europe’s richest countries, Luxembourg. His own history reflects that journey: he was born in Luxembourg to Italian parents and demonstrates a keen interest and sensitivity towards displaced people in films he produced, such as I Will Cross Tomorrow, focusing on the Syrian refugee crisis in Greece. His heartfelt tribute to immigrants is felt throughout Io sto bene.
The title in Italian, which translates as “I am fine,” refers to the letters that young Antonio writes home to his father, omitting any mention of the difficulties he faces in a foreign environment. Letters also play a role in Antonio’s fate, as he sends letters to Francesca, the future bride of his best friend Vito, an illiterate youth who begs Antonio to become his proxy. That relationship will prove to be the breaking point for the two friends, revealing the rigid code of honor prevailing in 60’s Italy that resulted in forced, unhappy marriages and illegitimate children hidden behind lies.
The young Antonio struggles to find work, learn the language, and adapt to an alien culture. He seeks refuge in a café where his fellow immigrants gather under a portrait of Antonio Gramsci to reminisce and find some solidarity. But the film is narrated from the perspective of a much older Antonio (Renato Carpentieri), now retired from his paint business and widowed. Carpentieri is a veteran stage actor, playwright, and director, and he brings gravitas and dignity to the character of Antonio as an old man who looks back on his early days as a young immigrant. Alessio Lapice plays the young Antonio as an overly naïve immigrant who leaves his native Sicily by train, uncertain of his destination, as he and his three friends believe Luxembourg is located inside Belgium.
In the present day, as old Antonio prepares to sell his house and move to a nursing home, he crosses paths with Leo (short for Leopoldina, played by Sara Serraioco), a young Italian immigrant who works as a “VJ”, projecting her graphic video designs while she plays rock music at a local bar. Despite her qualifications, Leo also struggles to find adequate employment, and while she communicates with her family in Italy via cellphone, similar omissions that we witnessed in Antonio’s letters occur. Aging Antonio and impulsive Leo begin to form a reluctant father-daughter bond that drives the plot forward and reveals motivations in Antonio’s flashbacks to the events that caused his friends and the Sicilian community to reject him. The Luxembourgian bosses are mostly portrayed as intolerant bullies, in both timelines. The exception is the lovely Mady (Marie Jung), who falls in love with Antonio and defies her parents to marry him.
Until a few years ago, millions of unemployed Italians migrated to Northern Europe or the Americas. Films have portrayed the struggle of Italian immigrants in varied tones,such as the classic Bread and Chocolate (1974) in which Nino Manfredi’s character dyes his hair blond in a comical effort to assimilate in Switzerland. Italy has now become a country that receives thousands of immigrants from Africa and Eastern Europe, but young Italians continue to emigrate. In Io sto bene, Antonio clings to his roots and identity until circumstances force him out of his own community. His haunted, wounded recollections motivate him to try to help Leo avoid his own destiny of childless solitude. This gives the film a bittersweet tone, as we follow the parallel stories in a plot that becomes more complex and engaging as the film evolves. The harsh contrast between the innocent 60’s pop tunes and the hard rock played by Leo in her gigs are jarring, but help separate the timelines.
Director, Screenplay: Donato Rotunno
Cast: Renato Carpentieri, Alessio Lapice, Sara Serraiocco, Marie Jung
Producers: Elise André, Donato Rotunno
Cinematography: Jean François Hensgens
Production design: Igor Gabriel
Costume design: Carmen Di Pinto, Magdalena Labuz
Editing: Matyas Veress
Music: Massimo Zamboni, CCCP
Sound: Paul Maernoudt
Production companies: Tarantula (Luxembourg and Belgium), Maxma Film (Germany), Vivo Film (Italy)
World sales: Tarantula (Luxembourg)
Venue: Oscar nomination
In Italian, French and Luxembourgish
94 minutes
