The Cézanne Affair

Gabriele returns to southern Italy, to a town near Bari, to say goodbye to his father Ernesto. Ernesto used to be a stationmaster. The state of the old man wakes memories of childhood in his son: his mother, his uncle, his friends. Inside those same memories are his father’s rage and bitterness. Ernesto had believed he was meant to be a famous painter and had been ready to give up everything for that belief, his own dignity included. As a child Gabriele swore he would not turn out like him. Years later, through chance, he begins to understand him. The film builds a portrait of a father through the memory of the son. Sergio Rubini and Valeria Golino take the leads, with Riccardo Scamarcio also in the cast. Sergio Rubini’s hundred and twenty four minute Italian film was completed in 2009.