''Marcel!'' is a 2022

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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Jasmine Trinca Jasmine Trinca (; born 24 April 1981) is an Italian actress. Life Trinca was born in Rome, Italy. She began her career in 2001, chosen by Nanni Moretti for his award-winning '' The Son's Room'', receiving the Guglielmo Biraghi prize as Best Ne ...

who co-wrote the screenplay with Francesca Manieri. Starring Alba Rohrwacher, Maayane Conti, and Giovanna Ralli, it is the director's feature debut and premiered at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

Synopsis

The film portrays a troubled relationship between a

street artist A street artist is a person who makes art in public places. Street artists include portrait artists, caricaturists, graffiti artists, muralists and people making crafts. Street artists can also refer to street performers such as musicians, acr ...

mother (Alba Rohrwacher) and her

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

-playing daughter (Maayane Conti) who competes with the mother's dog Marcel for affection. It is Marcel (the only character in the film to have a name) who takes part in the mother's performances, while the daughter is not allowed to. When Marcel has an accident, the daughter comforts her distraught mother and the two set off on a trip in preparation for a street art festival, staying with a cousin on the way. Rohrwacher and Conti had played the roles of mother and daughter in Trinca's 2020 short film ''Being my Mom'' before reuniting for ''Marcel'', the director's first feature film. In the words of the director: "Marcel! doesn’t necessarily tell the truth, but focuses on portraying credibility; a place where things happen but more so, a world of projections where love is the core of it all. It is an attempt to rewrite a motherdaughter relationship where cruelty and care coexist, and it is shared by two women who are growing up."

Cast

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

as the mother * Maayane Conti as the daughter *

Valentina Cervi Valentina Cervi (born 13 April 1976) is an Italian film and television actress. Cervi was born in Rome. She is the daughter of director Tonino Cervi and granddaughter of actor Gino Cervi. Her mother is the Italian producer of Austrian-Hungaria ...

as the cousin *

Giovanna Ralli Giovanna Ralli, (born 2 January 1935), is an Italian stage, film, and television actress. Life and career Born in Rome, Ralli debuted as a child actress at 7; at 13, she made her theatrical debut, entering the stage company of Peppino De Fili ...

as the grandmother *

Umberto Orsini Umberto Orsini (born 2 April 1934) is an Italian actor. He achieved prominence as a stage actor in Luchino Visconti's company, before becoming known to general audiences for his roles in RAI television dramas. He won the Nastro d'Argento for B ...

as the grandfather *

Giuseppe Cederna Giuseppe Cederna (born 25 June 1957) is an Italian actor and author. Life and career Born in Rome, the son of the journalist and politician Antonio Cederna and nephew of the writer and journalist Camilla Cederna, from his youth Cederna was at ...

as the elegant friend *

Dario Cantarelli Dario Cantarelli (born 16 September 1945) is an Italian actor. Biography He began his acting career on stage in 1973 with Carlo Cecchi's Granteatro company, playing roles in plays by William Shakespeare (''Antony and Cleopatra''), Eduardo De Fili ...

as the suitor *

Valeria Golino Valeria Golino (born 22 October 1965) is an Italian actress and film director. She is best known to English-language audiences for her roles in '' Rain Man'', '' Big Top Pee-wee'', and '' Hot Shots!'', where she performed the "olive-in-the-belly ...

as the psychoanalyst

Release

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2022.

Reception

On the

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website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds 4 out of 4 "Fresh" (that is, generally favourable) ratings. In a review for

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

, Jonathan Holland described the film as a "delicate, well-observed homage to mime, to silent film, and to Rome in summertime" that "carefully and lovingly blends different tropes into a distinctive and often engaging part-real, part-fantasy world".

Awards

The lead animal actor, Marcel, shared the Grand Jury Prize during the

Palm Dog Award The Palm Dog Award is a yearly award presented by the international film critics during the Cannes Film Festival. Begun in 2001 by Toby Rose, it is awarded to the best performance by a canine (live or animated) or group of canines. The award cons ...

ceremony at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marcel! 2022 drama films 2020s French films 2020s Italian films 2020s Italian-language films Films set in Rome Italian-language French films Films about mother–daughter relationships