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Contributed by Sara Schieron
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Wednesday, 16 November 2005 |
This beautiful period piece, set amidst the Neapolitan Revolution in
Italy, centers around the story of Eleonora Pimentel de Fonseca. Based
upon Enzo Striano's novel of the same name, the story uses the
character of Eleanora as the vehicle to explore the era and the utopian
goals of the Revolution. The film begins as Eleanora awaits her
execution and transitions between her silent waiting and the memories
of the more prominent moments of her life. Poetically, these moments
occur as if immediately, repeatedly comparing the young woman in her
teens to the matriarch awaiting her own end. Eleanora is, then and
forever. |
Seated in a stark and expansive hall, Eleanor, (played by Maria de
Medeiros) watches as a barefoot girl in a blue dress approaches her
with a cup of coffee. The sound of bare feet on stone floors and the
jittering of the china cup and saucer stand as palpable aural
indicators of the tension in the room. After handing the cup to Eleanor
and running away, the young girl disappears and outside of the same
doorway, we see another young girl, this one in a bonnet, enter a
carriage. Given a moment, we see that this is the first of our many
transgressions into memory. From the carriage we watch a young Eleanor
and listen as her siblings lament their new home's distance from the
beach. While her brother laments the family's inability to see the sea,
Eleanor manifests the sea outside their carriage window. In the
reflections on the glass, the children watch the shadows of fish and
waves. This iconic image begins a string of metaphors about the
illusive and powerful nature of the revolution, as well as the powers
of our protagonist. It is not solely the power of idealism and dreams
that transform young Eleanora, it is young Eleanora who empowers those
ideals and transforms those dreams.
Delicate and suggestive transitional elements not only cue us into the
meaning of the film's flashbacks but also effectively suggest the
immortality of the historical character of Eleanor. History is a unique
entity for "Il Resto di Niente". While the novel is regarded for its
extensive and careful research into the story of the Neapolitans it
features, the novel also included a cast of fictional characters. One
can only imagine these fictional personalities are literary devices to
help us identify the emotional workings of our protagonist. Though
beautifully articulated and profoundly affected, Maria de Medeiro's
Eleanor is stalwart and dedicated however not very demonstrative. When
she is sentenced to death she deliberately and tearlessly calls Horace
Nelson (her punisher) "slave". A woman in a revolution headed by male
inteligencia, she is professional and direct and intends to realize the
Utopian goals she envisions as clearly as she manifested the sea
outside her horse drawn carriage. The goal is poignant but her modus
for success is far too deliberate to appear sentimental
Though a film necessarily makes alterations to the materials presented
in the novel, the director Antoinetta di Lillo has made public her
appreciation to the estate of Striano, for their trust in her cinematic
translation. Di Lillo's promise is to be true to the spirit of the
novel and communicate the "rigor and dignity of the author, who was
unjustly neglected during his lifetime." It seems that it is not just
the work of the Striano but also the work of Eleanor Pimental de
Fonseca that is being resurrected and honored.
For additional information, please see my interview with Antoinetta di
Lillo. I ask her about the role of de Medeiros, the issue of accurate
histories, and her promise to the spirit of Enzo Striano. |
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