Since their debut in 2009 with the short film Rita, Fabio Grassadonia (born in Palermo) and Antonio Piazza (born in Milan) have been crafting their own vision of Sicily, frequently taking inspiration from real events. This is also the case in Sicilian Letters (original title Iddu), which marks the duo’s Venice debut in competition after their two previous feature films premiered in Cannes’ Critics Week. With France’s Les Films du Losange handling international distribution, it should be able to travel successfully beyond national borders, thanks also to its two leads.
The story takes place “somewhere in Sicily, in the early 2000s”. Catello Palumbo (Toni Servillo) has just been released from prison after serving a six-year sentence, and his prospects are not encouraging. Then he gets approached by the Italian Secret Service, who suggest he help them bring down his godson Matteo, the last major Mafia boss still at large. Using their personal connection, Catello communicates with Matteo via letters (pizzini in gangster jargon), but one may wonder if he won’t try to upend the whole operation, given his track record.
Though his last name is never used in the film, Matteo (nicknamed Iddu, which is “he” in Sicilian) is clearly meant to be Matteo Messina Denaro, the Cosa Nostra boss who spent three decades in hiding before his arrest in 2023 (he died of cancer shortly after). Assuming he’s meant to be the same age as Germano in the movie, these events take place circa 2005, even though exact chronology is largely irrelevant, as is any specific adherence to what actually happened. This is something Grassadonia and Piazza have done before (their previous film Sicilian Ghost Story was also loosely based on a true story), and explicitly state with the opening title card: “Reality is a point of departure, not a destination.”
The vagueness is reflected in the refusal to pinpoint a clear location, with principal photography having taken place in multiple cities in order to paint a general picture of Sicily. In fact, the regional feel is primarily evoked through the correspondence between Matteo and Catello, an exercise in eloquence – as Palumbo explains, mobsters on the run are among the most well-read people in the world – that allows Germano and Servillo to sink their teeth into the filmmakers’ elegant, literate writing, creating a microcosm through words rather than bullets.
These exchanges also highlight the two actors’ contrasting and complementary styles: Servillo, whose Neapolitan background is worked into Catello’s speech patterns, gives more of a performance, embracing the character’s dual allegiance, while the Rome-born Germano, who handles the Sicilian accent with gusto, is all understated menace and boiling resentment, with the occasional flashback emphasizing just how different his life used to be before he went into hiding. Such scenes add to Grassadonia and Piazza’s fascination with the dreamlike, and they find a perfect ally in cinematographer Luca Bigazzi, whose rendition of the scorching hot landscape walks the fine line between layers of reality.
The film stumbles on occasion, when it briefly focuses on situations not directly tied to the two protagonists (one scene between two members of the Secret Service is particularly jarring), but these minor hiccups are ably compensated by the overall confidence that traverses the whole picture, securely guiding the viewer inside a world which is not that far removed from Sicilian everyday life, and yet sufficiently removed to be its own, subtly spellbinding universe.
Directors, screenplay: Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza
Cast: Toni Servillo, Elio Germano, Daniela Marra, Barbora Bobulova, Giuseppe Tantillo, Fausto Russo Alesi, Antonia Truppo, Tommaso Ragno, Betti Pedrazzi, Filippo Luna, Rosario Palazzolo, Roberto De Francesco, Vincenzo Ferrera, Maurizio Marchetti, Gianluca Zaccaria, Lucio Patanè
Producers: Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Carlotta Calori, Viola Prestieri, Alexis Dantec
Cinematography: Luca Bigazzi
Production design: Gaspare De Pascali
Costume design: Andrea Cavalletto
Music: Colapesce
Sound: Stefano Campus, Mirko Perri, Giulio Previ
Production companies: Indigo Film, Rai Cinema, Les Films du Losange
World sales: Les Films du Losange
Venue: Venice Film Festival (Competition)
In Italian, Sicilian dialect
122 minutes
