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DIRECTORS ABROAD Karsi Pencere / La Finestra di Fronte / Facing Windows 2003, 106 minutes Contact Information |
Giovanna's working-class life, which is founded on a stagnant marriage in a hassled apartment dwelling, and the burden of being the main breadwinner of the family despite her toilsome job at a poultry processing plant, is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of an elderly amnesiac into her household. Her initial anxiety turns to increasing fascination with the enigmatic man as she cooperates with her neighbor Lorenzo, an affluent and handsome bachelor whom she voyeuristically fantasizes about, to gradually unveil clues to the mystery of his past. Consumed by the revelation of the secrets she pursues and her attraction to Lorenzo alike, Giovanna realizes that her life is at emotional crossroads. Karsi Pencere (Facing Windows) ingeniously interweaves complex sentiments and reflection with the element of suspense to create a multi-layered narrative out of seemingly random incidents. From Fatih Ozguven “Facing Windows is Ferzan Özpetek’s bitter-sweet tribute to Italian cinema and recent Italian history. Özpetek started his film career with the highly succesful Hammam or Il Bango Turco and went on to pursue ‘the Italian connection’ already present in that film in Rome, with exclusively Roman themes. Facing Windows is his most accomplished and intimate film to date; here the director combines his penchant for aestheticism with a sense of the fragility of personal fates past and present. A young suburban housewife in Rome meets an old man, a ‘master confectioner’ and they become friends in an unlikely sort of way. What brings them together is a certain sense of disillusionment. The colorful display of cakes and the making of them in one scene of Facing Windows is a metaphor for the whole film. Life, it seems, is beautifully cake-like in its display of everyday happiness and what we make of it in spite of an underlying sense of tragedy. The part of the confectioner is played with great understatement by the Italian actor Massimo Girotti, who has acted in such masterpieces as Luchino Visconti’s Ossessione and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema.” Festivals and Awards 2004 The National Board of Review Award for Special
Recognition for Excellence in Filmmaking (USA) |
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