La Nostra vita, a picture of an Italy in difficulty

The only native of Italy in Competition, Daniele Luchetti presents on Thursday La Nostra vita, a spotlight on the pain of a man worn down by grief. The film is screened at the Grand Théâtre Lumière (11:15 am, 10:30 pm).

It is in Cannes, in 1988, that the world of cinema met Daniele Luchetti for the first time. The director had presented this year his first feature film, Domani accadrà, in Un Certain Regard. Since then, this fan of François Truffaut has appeared twice on the Croisette: in Competition for The Yes Man (1991), and in Un Certain Regard for My Brother is an Only Child (2007).

Through the pain of Claudio, a construction worker whose partner has passed away, Luchetti draws a portrait of the trauma surrounding the grief process. “I tried as much to describe this character as the contemporary history of an entire country”, says the filmmaker. A reference to immigrant workers in Italy, a theme Luchetti uses as a backdrop.

To play Claudio, the director chose Elio Germano, one of the most popular Italian actors today. This year, the public saw him in Nine, a feature film by Rob Marshall in which he stars alongside Penelope Cruz and Marion Cotillard.

B.P.