A Leap in the Dark

Mauro is a judge, and he is worried about Marta, the older sister who looked after him from childhood. Marta is losing her mental health and thinking about killing herself, and the two of them live in the same house, folded in on each other. Hoping to bring her back to life, Mauro introduces her to Giovanni, a theatre actor who operates on the edge of the law. Marta does start to recover, and it is Mauro who then cannot name what he is feeling. Marco Bellocchio is making another of his films in which the family bond is a prison rather than a form of love. Patiently, and without anyone acting out of malice, he shows that what a sibling takes for protection is really keeping hold. Michel Piccoli and Anouk Aimée won best actor and best actress at Cannes in 1980 for this. Michele Placido is the third person whose arrival throws the balance.