''Dormant Beauty'' ( it, Bella addormentata) is a 2012 Italian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Marco Bellocchio Marco Bellocchio (; born 9 November 1939) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Life and career Born in Bobbio, near Piacenza, Marco Bellocchio had a strict Catholic upbringing – his father was a lawyer, his mother a schoolt ...

and starring

Toni Servillo Marco Antonio Servillo (), known as Toni Servillo, is an Italian actor and theatrical director. He has won the European Film Award for Best Actor twice, in 2008 for both '' Gomorrah'' and ''Il Divo'' and in 2013 for ''The Great Beauty'', as wel ...

and

Isabelle Huppert Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world", she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality. She is the recipient of sev ...

. The film was selected to compete for the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

at the

69th Venice International Film Festival The 69th annual Venice International Film Festival, organized by Venice Biennale, took place at Venice Lido from 29 August to 8 September 2012. The festival opened with the Indian director Mira Nair's ''The Reluctant Fundamentalist'', and clos ...

. For this film

Maya Sansa Maya Sansa (born 25 September 1975) is an Italian actress. Early life and career Maya Sansa was born in Rome the daughter of an Iranian father and an Italian mother. When she was 14, she started to study acting at her high school in Rome the " ...

won the

David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actress The David di Donatello Award for Best Supporting Actress ( it, David di Donatello per la migliore attrice non protagonista) is a film award presented annually by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano (ACI, ''Academy of Italian Cinema'') to recognize the ...

Plot

The film revolves around the true story of

Eluana Englaro Eluana Englaro (25 November 1970 – 9 February 2009) was an Italian woman from Lecco, who entered a persistent vegetative state on 18 January 1992, following a car accident, and subsequently became the focus of a court battle between supporters ...

, a girl felt into an irreversible

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

in 1992 following a car accident and deemed incurable. After long years of struggle, her parents opted to euthanize her, asking the authorization to the competent authority and obtaining it in 2009. The

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and some political parties during the

Berlusconi IV Cabinet The fourth Berlusconi government was the 60th government of Italy, in office from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011. It was the fourth government led by Silvio Berlusconi, who then became the longest-serving Prime Minister of Italy of the Italian Re ...

ruthlessly attacked them. Eluana is never shown in the film, but images of television programs and newspapers mentioning her case are constantly in the background reminding the audience about her presence. The plot features several stories chained to themselves and to the themes of life and death. Uliano is a Member of the Parliament elected for

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

who refuses to align himself with the party and plans to vote against a bill that will make euthanasia illegal; his daughter Maria joins an anti-euthanasia Christian prayer group in front of Eluana's hospital, but then she falls in love with Roberto, an activist for the opposite pro-euthanasia group whose brother Pipino suffers from

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

. A great French actress referred as the "Divine Mother" is married to an Italian actor, but since when their daughter Rosa has felt into a coma she stopped caring about her husband, son and work, spending her whole time praying for her health. Rossa is a young woman addicted to heroin with

suicidal tendencies Suicidal Tendencies is an American crossover thrash band formed in 1980 in Venice in Los Angeles, California by vocalist Mike Muir. Muir is the only remaining original member of the band. Along with D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity, and Stormtr ...

saved and eventually persuaded to live by Pallido, a doctor who felt in love with her.

Cast

as Uliano Beffardi *

Alba Rohrwacher Alba Caterina Rohrwacher (, ; born 27 February 1979) is an Italian actress. Early life Alba Rohrwacher was born in Florence, the daughter of a German father and an Italian mother. From the age of 17 to 21 she studied medicine, intending to be a ...

as Maria *

as Divina Madre *

as Rossa *

Michele Riondino Michele Riondino (born 14 March 1979) is an Italian actor. Born in Taranto, Riondino enrolled at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 2000. In 2006, he acted in ''The Black Arrow'', a TV series broadcast by Canale ...

as Roberto *

Gianmarco Tognazzi Gianmarco Tognazzi (born 11 October 1967) is an Italian actor. Life and career Born on 11 October 1967 in Rome, the son of actors Ugo Tognazzi and Franca Bettoia,Giorgio Dell’Arti, Massimo Parrini. ''Catalogo dei viventi''. Marsilio, 2009. . ...

as Divina Madre's husband *

Roberto Herlitzka Roberto Herlitzka (born 2 October 1937) is an Italian theatre and film actor of Czechoslovak descent. He has appeared in 38 films since 1973. He was born in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. In 2004 he won the David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actor ...

as Psychiatrist senator

Awards and nominations

Brian Award The Brian Award (in Italian language, Italian: ''Premio Brian'') is the award given since 2006 to “a film that highlights and enhances the values of rationality, respect for human rights, democracy, pluralism, promotion of individuality, freedom ...

at the

References

External links

* 2012 films 2012 drama films Italian drama films 2010s Italian-language films Films directed by Marco Bellocchio French drama films Films about euthanasia 2010s French films 2010s Italian films {{2010s-drama-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Awards and nominations

See also

References

External links