Euphoria

Two brothers. Matteo lives in Rome, does well, and lives fast and untidily. Ettore teaches in the provinces: quiet, married, more measured. When Ettore falls ill, Matteo brings him to Rome and takes charge of the treatment. He does not tell him the diagnosis. Valeria Golino directs, in her second film. Riccardo Scamarcio plays Matteo and Valerio Mastandrea plays Ettore. The question at the centre is who the lie is good for. Matteo says he wants to protect his brother, but the person being protected is himself. Telling the truth would require conversations he does not want to have. Golino builds that without ever spelling it out. The contrast between the two actors is the main instrument. Scamarcio is in constant motion, talkative and scattered; Mastandrea almost never rises. In the scenes where they share a room that difference produces the conflict. It screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2018. Golino came to directing from acting, and both her films look at the same subject: illness, care, and the people around it. Her first, Honey, was directly about euthanasia. Who it is for: viewers who like contemporary Italian drama and films built on performance. Who it is not for: the subject is heavy and the film offers no relief anywhere, and the last section is long and inevitable.