A mystery in a thriller full of
ghosts, 'doubles' and hallucinations in a reality that is
incredible forms the backdrop to director Ferzan Ozpetak's
latest film, 'Napoli Velata' ('Veiled Naples').
The plot contains a love story of a single night with much
'shameless sex' between characters played by Giovanna
Mezzogiorno and Alessandro Borghi.
Some 350 copies of the film will be in cinemas, distributed
by Warner Bros. Entertainment Italia, from December 28.
The real protagonist of the film, however, is Naples, the
'double' city that adds another veil whenever it reveals
anything about itself, as if moved by a sense of modesty.
The Turkish-Italian director, known for his 'Le Fate
Ignoranti' (The Ignorant Fairies'), said in a press conference
on Monday in Rome that "Naples is female", a sentiment later
echoed by city 'icon', actor Peppe Barra.
These are the basic outlines of the film.
On an evening out, Adriana (Mezzogiorno), a coroner dealing
with gruesome autopsies, meets Andrea (Borghi), a fascinating
younger man.
Passion is sparked between them immediately and they end up
in bed together. He disappears the next day but Adriana's
obsession sees him everywhere.
Amid this delirium, Adriana has to deal with her complicated
past: a mother seen as insane and homicidal, an eccentric aunt
and a unique, alleged father played by Pepe Barra.
Unique rituals are interspersed, such as one in which men
have children, and there is the beauty of relatively unknown
sites such as the Ospedale degli Incurabili ('Hospital of the
Incurables', where the initiation ceremony ends with a veiled
uterus) and the Cappella del Principe di San Severo, a scholar
and alchemist, with a famous statue of Cristo Velato (Veiled
Christ).
The cast of the film includes Lina Sastri, Luisa Ranieri,
Isabella Ferrari and Maria Pia Calzone. The film ends with Arisa
singing Enzo Gragnaniello's Vasame.
"Naples is a city that I fell in love with while directing
'La Traviata' at San Carlo. It is the only city in which I feel
at home after Istanbul, Rome and Lecce.
"Of course," the director said, "there is a strong feeling of
death in the air, but Neapolitans play with it and make it into
something that there is nothing to be afraid of in it."
"Adriana," Mezzogiorno said, "caught between physical passion
and mental difficulty, acts in this situation as if she were in
a mental tunnel that is parallel to reality. The sex scene is
very important because it sets off a series of other things. I
was tense as is normal, but luckily with Alessandro - who I did
not know well - there was an immediate chemistry, even of a
physical nature, and no embarrassment or modesty. In the end, we
were both happy to have done something special."
Borghi said that "for me, that scene was certainly easier for
me than for her. It can't be easy for an actress if she does not
meet with a good person" in front of her in such a scene.
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