QUICK AND DIRTY: LIVE FROM CANNES

Fifty-five-year-old writer Goliarda Sapienza (Valeria Golino) is released from the Rebbibia prison of Rome in the year of 1980. She was arrested for selling stolen jewellery, in an ordeal that we see in flashback format roughly halfway through this 115-minute. Other than that, and a few temporal leaps into the prison time, the film is devoted to the first few months after Goliarda’s release. She befriends former inmate Roberta (Matilda De Angelis), a fiery political activist with a taste for theft and for danger (and with a big surprise in store for Goliarda, revealed only in the movie’s final scene), and roughly half her age.

The two women bond through whisky, wild car rides, and a petty crime or two. However, they are no Thelma and Louise (Ridley Scott, 1991). Their relationship is a lot gentler, a blend of maternal and sensual, Roberta even describes it as “incestuous”, something Goliarda promptly dismisses: “I am not your mother”. A third former inmate, the young and gorgeous Barbara (Elodie Di Patrizi), occasionally joins the action. The third woman is enjoy a successful career in a luxury store, a bit step from her stormy prison days. She once attempted to take her own life by cutting her wrists, in the film’s most boisterous scene (the wardens break into prison while the furious women chant” “out! out! out!”).

In real life, Sapienza’s prison sentence lasted just five days, but you would never know this from watching the Fuori. Martone makes the experience seem much longer, perhaps with the purpose of strengthening Sapienza’s relationship with Roberta and Barbara.

First and foremost, Mario Martone’s 14th feature film is a tale of sorority, one that firmly fails the reverse Bechdel test. It is based on the experiences of the real-life writer, who was fairly unknown at that time. Goliarda had always written profusely, however very little had been published by the year in which the story takes place. The most intimate moments take place in the piazza bar, a taxi, and also in a pink-tiled bathroom. This is where the three women share a shower in the nude (this is a moment of intimacy, devoid of sexual tension)

Golino’s mature performance is Fuori‘s greatest asset. The actress has the sad eyes of Charlotte Rampling, and the eloquence of Sandra Hueller. She successfully sustains a story that could have easily slipped into banality. She embodies a woman scarred by her recent dealings, and still with a palpable joie-de-vivre. Most crucially, she is a keen observer seeking to incorporate the trivialities of real life into her fiction works.

Fuori reflects on the nature of freedom. Goliarda ponders whether she felt more liberated while in confinement than she does now that she’s “out” (that’s the English translation of the Italian title), The problematic relationship between the psychologial freedom and physical freedom is a common topic in film and literature. Classic Woman of the Dunes (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964) poetically addressed it, while Swiss crime thriller Caged Birds (Oliver Rihs, 2020) depicted it from the point-of-view of the prison escapee.

Other than that, Fuori barely investigates Goliarda Sapienza’s writing choices and style. We learn about the vast amounts of writing that she did before and after her prison stint, yet we never gain useful insight into the nature of her work. Title cards explain that Goliarda, who died at the age of 72 in 1996, was posthumously recognised as one of the most influential Italian writers of the 20th century. There is no information on her masterpiece: the 500-page feminist novel The Art of Joy. We are informed that much of her work was rescued by her husband, yet the film possesses virtually no insight into such relation (a male character is briefly featured in her apartment, but I have no idea whether that’s her said spouse). Or did she marry someone else after the story? Unless you are familiar with Sapienza’s biography, you will not know the answer. While helping to contextualise the film, this information also reveals that the plot is thin and full of gaping holes. The screenplay was written by Martone, in collaboration with Ippolita Di Majo. It is based on a novel written by Sapienza.

Ultimately, Fuori is a movie torn between two priorities: a sorority tale, and the drama of a misunderstood genius.

Fuori just premiered in the Official Competition of 78th Cannes International Film Festival. A movie that will satisfy those looking for tender sisterhood vibes, yet unlike to earn the late Italian writer any new fans.