Foolish Love

Colour, 35 mm
Italy, 2003, 90 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

A young doctor at a psychiatric clinic dreams about returning “crazy” people to normal life. She encourages them to talk, listens to them, and gives them strength, in the hope that together they can get at the roots of their problems. Fausto captivates her most of all. He’s an eccentric musician who’s been in and out of treatment, but who sometimes seems completely normal. The film develops the relationship between the patient and doctor, two similarly fragile people who together experience “the insanity of love.” Instead of a great love, however, it is in actuality merely the route both have chosen to escape the bounds of “normality.”

About the director

Emanuela Piovano (b. 1962, Turin) is a member of a group of avant-garde Italian filmmakers. With Daniele Segre, Guido Chiesa, Mimmo Calopresti, she founded the Turin School, and has made several video films under its banner. They generally take up the problem of women and the limitations which traditionally bind them. Prior to Foolish Love she shot The Blue Rose (Le rose blu, 1989), L’aria in testa (1992) and Le complici (1998). She produces her work at her own company, Kitchenfilm.