“Giordana has made a film that is essentially told in tragedies and melodies, with a simple premise that touches on many complex ideas in a way that is incredibly striking.”

In a brief break from his usual style of nihilistic ponderings, Friedrich Nietzsche once quipped that “without music, life would be a mistake“, a poignant statement that has proven to be perpetually relevant. It is certainly an idea that resonates with the protagonist of Marco Tullio Giordana’s masterful The Life Apart (La vita accanto), a young girl born at the beginning of the 1980s in the gorgeous Italian city of Vicenza, where she is subjected to the challenges of a mentally unstable mother who abhors music, an aunt who adores it, and a father too committed to giving his daughter a good life to have any strong opinion of his own on the matter. Born with an enormous birthmark that covers a large portion of her face, our protagonist retreats into her own world as we witness her growth from an impressionable child to an adolescent learning the harsh realities of life. Giordana is one of the great investigators of Italian history, which he has carefully curated throughout a fascinating career that includes wildly audacious projects such as The Fall of the Rebel Angels and The Best of Youth. In collaboration with Italian cinematic stalwart Marco Bellocchio (who co-wrote the screenplay) Giordana returns with yet another deeply moving exploration of the past, covering the final two decades of the 20th century and filtering it through the perspective of a unique protagonist who represents the many wayward souls born into a world they do not quite understand, and who seek refuge in the arts for the comfort and guidance they desperately crave.

The Life Apart covers a substantial amount of time, following Rebecca from her birth to the precipice of adulthood, focusing on several key moments over the course of the first two decades of her life. The film is structured like a classical novel, neatly divided into various chapters, each one with an over-arching purpose but ultimately working together to compose the stunning and moving symphony that is this character’s early life. This classical style is mostly representative of Giordana’s work – he is indebted to traditional storytelling techniques, but also not restricted by them. He instead makes use of certain concepts to give his film structure, which allows him to introduce some revolutionary ideas into the fabric of this story. Assisted by some of the most fluid and dynamic camerawork of the past year, Giordana creates a brilliantly compelling coming-of-age narrative in which the intersection between art and culture is underlined continuously as we follow the protagonist on her journey towards adulthood. All of which takes place in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, acting as the stage for her formative years and where the actors (including a quartet of exceptional newcomers who play Rebecca at various ages) are given the chance to develop these characters as complex representatives of different aspects of the human condition, another common trait of the director’s work that he heavily implements into every frame of this film.

Giordana’s modus operandi as a filmmaker has frequently been to present us with these visually striking films that we would assume are merely aesthetic spectacles, with the rich cinematography and evocative score drawing us into the world the director so meticulously constructs. However, there is much more substance to The Life Apart than just the visual and aural accomplishments, with the surrounding story being just as captivating. The film tells quite a challenging tale, following the trials and tribulations of a young girl as she matures and learns that the world is not as idyllic as her sheltered life may have suggested. She lives in a society that is burdened by the past, with religion, politics and a range of other cultural conventions interweaving and creating several challenges for the characters throughout the film. Through all of this, Giordana redirects our attention towards the theme of music, which he does not view as merely a form of artistic expression but rather a way of life, a balm for the harsh realities these individuals have to face on a daily basis, and a means to receive some temporary catharsis from the foreboding pressures of the external world. To achieve this, Giordana finds the balance between traditional domestic melodrama and ethereal magical realism, the two working in tandem in the development of this poignant story of childhood, which is often very endearing but never trivial. There are too many complex themes that factor into the narrative for it to ever become minor in terms of tone, the story coming alive through subtle but magnificently moving cues that are as invigorating as the musical cues that persist throughout the film and punctuate its most impactful moments.

The Life Apart is not a film that lends itself to easy interpretation in terms of selecting one fundamental message. Instead, it explores many fascinating themes, such as the process of looking beyond imperfections to find beauty beneath the flaws, as well as the power of music to bring us together, both socially and historically, with its compositions overcoming geographic and temporal boundaries to bind us together as one holistic entity experiencing the power of the arts. Giordana has made a film that is essentially told in tragedies and melodies, with a simple premise that touches on many complex ideas in a way that is incredibly striking. The film manages to be simultaneously sweeping in scope and intimate in emotion, which it achieves through focusing on the most raw and heart-wrenching depictions of the experiences of the protagonist and her family as they navigate the uncertain path that lies before them. This creates an unusual but undeniably moving depiction of the passage of time, as well as providing an oddly optimistic outlook. The film allows us to glean beautiful and poetic glimpses into the relationship between the past and present, as seen through the most compassionate and human of perspectives, defining this heartfelt drama about the power of art and how it can not only guide our lives but entirely define them.