GFF 2013: Dormant Beauty

Marco Bellocchio's euthanasia drama Dormant Beauty is based on the real-life case of Eluana Englaro, a young woman who fell into a coma for two decades and whose family appealed to the Italian government for permission to end her suffering. Toni Servillo plays a member of Silvio Berlusconi’s party required to vote on this contentious issue. An air of authenticity adds steel to the scenes dealing with the build up to the ballot, and a wily shrink whose client lists includes half of parliament adds some pithy satire, but the pitiful stories that satellite this main strand drag the film down to the level of daytime soap opera. Worst of these subplots is a risible star-crossed lovers yarn about a woman and man who put their conflicting ethical beliefs over assisted suicide aside to do the nasty. Euthanasia is a delicate issue, but when it comes to putting Bellocchio’s turgid drama out of its misery, I’m adopting the attitude of Chief Bromden from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. [Jamie Dunn]