This as an exceptionally well-acted and presented film about how parents deal with disabled children. It is not an easy subject to show without over-emotionalizing something. Unlike 'Rain Man', this film showed that there is nothing fun about living with a disabled person. Any positive sign warms the heart, the negatives are soul- crushing, coming to terms with the limitations of your child. The father of the disabled boy goes to see him with the intention of committing him to a hospital. During the days of testing that happen prior to the commitment, they form a bond. I don't agree that the boy shows signs of getting better or communicating above what he had been doing at the beginning of the movie. He is significantly disabled and will remain so regardless of the love and support from his newly found father. At the end of the movie, the father begins to understand - his son who he thought was connecting with him and seemed to communicate fairly normally - is irritating and still very disabled. The sadness is well done as he realizes this. The woman he meets in the hospital, who has a severely disabled daughter, has done nothing since her daughter was born except care for her daughter. Disability consumes caregivers. The father likens them to 'puppies, giving unconditional love'. The disabled have a genuine innocence and trust that normal children grow out of by the time they are 5 years old. It's like each day is a new lifetime for them - the memory of frustration, of anger - are forgotten. It's a film that those living with a disabled person will see as pretty true to real-life.
29 Reviews
Charlotte makes the difference
debblyst10 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
"Le Chiavi di Casa" is a strangely unmoving film, considering its potentially heart-melting subject: it had all the elements to make us dehydrate out of crying, and yet it leaves us distant. It sure isn't the fault of funny, charming young Andrea Rossi, who plays the disabled Paolo; Rossi is utterly inspiring (as he must certainly be in real life) and full of joy. But the script is filled with annoying idiosyncrasies -- they make you go "naah!" when you should be swept up in the story. How can the father not go looking for his missing disabled son in a foreign city and choose instead to tell his life story to a woman he's barely met? And what about him throwing the boy's walker at sea? Or leaving the boy alone at the hotel? Or stealing him away from physical therapy? Or not even asking his wife about his new-born baby back home? Was there EVER a more inept father?
These inconsistencies are enhanced by Kim Rossi Stuart's frustrating, uncharismatic performance: he's like a top model lost in a gritty drama -- handsome but shallow, bordering on moronic. Anyway, the point of this review is to praise Charlotte Rampling: what an actress she has become over the years! Film after film, she graces us with memorable performances, from "Sous le Sable" and "Swimming Pool" to "Lemming" and the otherwise insufferable "Vers le Sud" and now "Le Chiave...". She has reached this age when her (naturally aged) face is so rich and lived in that she can build a flesh-and-blood character with one look and one half-smile. In her very first scene, we feel at once we KNOW that life-beaten mother. Her "big" scene (where she reveals her tormented thoughts about her severely disabled daughter) is the most heart-wrenching thing in the whole movie -- you can totally sympathize with her obvious but "controlled" grief and her "living day-by-day" philosophy. You see a woman who's cried every single tear out of her body through the long years of devotion to her daughter, her youth and hopes lost along the way. You can understand her envy of mothers whose children have had better results from therapy than her own daughter, and even understand her mixed feelings about her daughter's attachment to life ("Perché non muore?"). Her performance is so good it makes her lines sound better -- even if her Italian is less than fluent -- than anything else in the script.
My vote: 6 stars out of 10. If you happen to have a disabled relative or friend that you take care of (or care about), that rating certainly goes up.
These inconsistencies are enhanced by Kim Rossi Stuart's frustrating, uncharismatic performance: he's like a top model lost in a gritty drama -- handsome but shallow, bordering on moronic. Anyway, the point of this review is to praise Charlotte Rampling: what an actress she has become over the years! Film after film, she graces us with memorable performances, from "Sous le Sable" and "Swimming Pool" to "Lemming" and the otherwise insufferable "Vers le Sud" and now "Le Chiave...". She has reached this age when her (naturally aged) face is so rich and lived in that she can build a flesh-and-blood character with one look and one half-smile. In her very first scene, we feel at once we KNOW that life-beaten mother. Her "big" scene (where she reveals her tormented thoughts about her severely disabled daughter) is the most heart-wrenching thing in the whole movie -- you can totally sympathize with her obvious but "controlled" grief and her "living day-by-day" philosophy. You see a woman who's cried every single tear out of her body through the long years of devotion to her daughter, her youth and hopes lost along the way. You can understand her envy of mothers whose children have had better results from therapy than her own daughter, and even understand her mixed feelings about her daughter's attachment to life ("Perché non muore?"). Her performance is so good it makes her lines sound better -- even if her Italian is less than fluent -- than anything else in the script.
My vote: 6 stars out of 10. If you happen to have a disabled relative or friend that you take care of (or care about), that rating certainly goes up.
A not-so-happy ending?
AmyLouise4 March 2007
Director Gianni Amelio coaxed a wonderful performance from Andrea Rossi in this film - his lines were fed to him by the director, allowing this young non-actor to appear spontaneous. His charm and his stubbornness were powerful and endearing, and it would seem that it was the boy's real character and personality that were being very gently and cleverly allowed to shine.
Apart from Andrea Rossi, the strength of the film lay with Charlotte Rampling - although her part was a supporting role, her intelligence and dignity made a strong impact, and you wished that she would be there to counsel and guide Gianni through future events that he would perhaps not handle too well. She has matured into a very fine actress indeed, and one hopes that she will get the kind of roles she deserves in the future.
My first thought was that Kim Rossi-Stuart wasn't a good choice for the lead - good-looking certainly, but way too wooden an actor to carry a role as demanding as that of Gianni. On reflection, however, I wondered if casting an actor who appeared to have very little to give his role emotionally was deliberate, because it wasn't hard to believe that this was a man who deserted his son at his birth. Even when he slowly began to warm to his son, and we knew he desperately wanted to help, he was still awkward as he tried to compensate for his instinctive emotional detachment.
When he took his son from the hospital - clearly before his round of treatment was completed (this would certainly have to be an ongoing routine for Paolo) - this was not the action of a responsible, loving father but an act of rebellion from an immature man who couldn't, or wouldn't, see that the painful procedures were the only hope for some small improvement in Paolo's condition, and something that the boy himself accepted and participated in, however much he hated it.
Taking Paolo to Norway to visit his "girlfriend" Kristine was not an act of kindness, but one of insensitivity - in earlier scenes, although Paolo spoke of one day marrying her, he also had all sorts of excuses for not being able to meet her. Clearly, he was able to understand what his father could not - that she may reject him when she realised that he was not like other boys; yet he trusted his father enough to take the chance. It was when Gianni threw away his walking stick that I felt he had made very little progress from the boy who couldn't face up to his responsibilities to his motherless son - he was acting less from a desire to help Paolo walk on his own than he was trying to pretend that the boy's disabilities could be cured by an act of will and that he would one day be more like a "normal" son. This was explored further during the driving scene - having told Nicole earlier that Paolo didn't know how to construct boundaries, he encouraged him to think that he could drive and was then shattered when he realised the extent to which his son could at times fail to recognise the limitations that would always confront him. Was Paolo himself unconsciously trying to teach his father a lesson by behaving in the same irresponsible way that Gianni had been?
The ending of the film therefore presented us with two possibilities - Gianni's newly-awakened love might lead him to a new sense of maturity and responsibility if he could accept that love was not going to be a miracle cure, or he just might once again abandon his child to others. For Paolo's sake and his father's too, I'd like to think that Gianni would have developed a new perspective on his physical and emotional journey with his difficult and beautiful son.
Apart from Andrea Rossi, the strength of the film lay with Charlotte Rampling - although her part was a supporting role, her intelligence and dignity made a strong impact, and you wished that she would be there to counsel and guide Gianni through future events that he would perhaps not handle too well. She has matured into a very fine actress indeed, and one hopes that she will get the kind of roles she deserves in the future.
My first thought was that Kim Rossi-Stuart wasn't a good choice for the lead - good-looking certainly, but way too wooden an actor to carry a role as demanding as that of Gianni. On reflection, however, I wondered if casting an actor who appeared to have very little to give his role emotionally was deliberate, because it wasn't hard to believe that this was a man who deserted his son at his birth. Even when he slowly began to warm to his son, and we knew he desperately wanted to help, he was still awkward as he tried to compensate for his instinctive emotional detachment.
When he took his son from the hospital - clearly before his round of treatment was completed (this would certainly have to be an ongoing routine for Paolo) - this was not the action of a responsible, loving father but an act of rebellion from an immature man who couldn't, or wouldn't, see that the painful procedures were the only hope for some small improvement in Paolo's condition, and something that the boy himself accepted and participated in, however much he hated it.
Taking Paolo to Norway to visit his "girlfriend" Kristine was not an act of kindness, but one of insensitivity - in earlier scenes, although Paolo spoke of one day marrying her, he also had all sorts of excuses for not being able to meet her. Clearly, he was able to understand what his father could not - that she may reject him when she realised that he was not like other boys; yet he trusted his father enough to take the chance. It was when Gianni threw away his walking stick that I felt he had made very little progress from the boy who couldn't face up to his responsibilities to his motherless son - he was acting less from a desire to help Paolo walk on his own than he was trying to pretend that the boy's disabilities could be cured by an act of will and that he would one day be more like a "normal" son. This was explored further during the driving scene - having told Nicole earlier that Paolo didn't know how to construct boundaries, he encouraged him to think that he could drive and was then shattered when he realised the extent to which his son could at times fail to recognise the limitations that would always confront him. Was Paolo himself unconsciously trying to teach his father a lesson by behaving in the same irresponsible way that Gianni had been?
The ending of the film therefore presented us with two possibilities - Gianni's newly-awakened love might lead him to a new sense of maturity and responsibility if he could accept that love was not going to be a miracle cure, or he just might once again abandon his child to others. For Paolo's sake and his father's too, I'd like to think that Gianni would have developed a new perspective on his physical and emotional journey with his difficult and beautiful son.
Corny Fatherhood
claudio_carvalho16 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Alberto (Pierfrancesco Favino) and her wife Livia have raised their disabled nephew Paolo (Andrea Rossi) since he was born fifteen years ago. His mother Giulia died in the delivery and his father Gianni (Kim Rossi Stuart) left the boy in the hospital and has never seen him. Alberto calls Gianni and tells him that he should travel with Paolo to Berlin for a medical treatment in a specialized hospital. Gianni has his first contact with his son, and during the trip, her feels connected to Paolo. In Berlin, he befriends Nicole (Charlotte Rampling), the mother of a disable woman, who tells him how much he would suffer if he decides to stay close to his son.
"Le Chiavi di Casa" should be emotionally gripping because of the theme associated to the performances of the Andrea Rossi, who is disabled indeed, and the wonderful and always elegant and beautiful Charlotte Rampling. However the melodramatic and weird story about missed fatherhood is corny, implausible and annoying in many moments. How could the contact between a father that despised his own son be good for the boy? How could the biological father take the decision to invite his abandoned son to live with his family without deeply discussing the subject with the boy's parents (Alberto and Livia) and also with his wife? The boy travels to a hospital to be submitted to a battery of tests for a specialized treatment, and the father simply spoils the test, disrespects the doctor and does not bring the boy back to the hospital? Further, why irresponsibly throwing the walker off to the sea? The plot had a great potential but unfortunately the inconsistent screenplay is not good. The best and most honest moment of this overrated movie is the confession of Nicole to Gianni about her innermost feelings. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "As Chaves de Casa" ("The Keys of the House")
"Le Chiavi di Casa" should be emotionally gripping because of the theme associated to the performances of the Andrea Rossi, who is disabled indeed, and the wonderful and always elegant and beautiful Charlotte Rampling. However the melodramatic and weird story about missed fatherhood is corny, implausible and annoying in many moments. How could the contact between a father that despised his own son be good for the boy? How could the biological father take the decision to invite his abandoned son to live with his family without deeply discussing the subject with the boy's parents (Alberto and Livia) and also with his wife? The boy travels to a hospital to be submitted to a battery of tests for a specialized treatment, and the father simply spoils the test, disrespects the doctor and does not bring the boy back to the hospital? Further, why irresponsibly throwing the walker off to the sea? The plot had a great potential but unfortunately the inconsistent screenplay is not good. The best and most honest moment of this overrated movie is the confession of Nicole to Gianni about her innermost feelings. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "As Chaves de Casa" ("The Keys of the House")
The Keys to the House Open the Heart
gradyharp2 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
LE CHIAVI DI CASA (THE KEYS TO THE HOUSE) is a brave, humble, simple, eloquent work of art. Director and writer (with Sandro Petraglia) Gianni Amelio has the courage to address a subject that is difficult for most viewers and has created one of the more tender love stories on film. Aided by an incomparably fine cast and a fine cinematographer (Luca Bigazzi) and composer (Franco Piersanti), he has found a means to touch everyone with a story that, BECAUSE of its subject matter, gives more insight into the human condition than almost any other film to date.
Amelio begins his story quietly and progresses slowly, allowing the viewer to cope with the realities of the tale in a manner of comfort. In the opening scene Gianni (Kim Rossi Stuart) is meeting with Alberto (Pierfrancesco Favino) in a frank discussion about the status of Paolo (Andrea Rossi), the son of Gianni whom he has never seen, the child being born as his girlfriend dies in childbirth. Alberto and his wife have been caring for Paolo for fifteen years, loving him, admiring him, working with the fact that Paolo has cerebral palsy with he concomitant handicaps of distorted limbs but with a mind and heart completely normal. Paolo's doctor has informed Alberto that perhaps having Paolo connect with his birth father may aid his progress in walking normally and increasing his self-care. So at this meeting Alberto, regrettably, turns Paolo over to the hesitant Gianni, an appliances worker who is now married and has a new child.
Gianni and Paolo meet for the first time, board a train to Berlin for the best Children's Orthopedic Hospital available. Very gradually the two begin to learn about each other; Paolo wants to prove he is self-reliant, Gianni wants to prove he is an adequate caregiver. In Berlin Gianni observes Paolo's intensive physical training, finding the boy's strengths and qualities and need for love. While Paolo is hospitalized Gianni meets Nicole (the brilliant Charlotte Rampling) whose 20-year-old daughter Nadine (Alla Faerovich) is severely physically challenged: Nicole has devoted her life to being at the bedside of Nadine and shares with Gianni the truths about parenting challenged children. Their conversations are sage and realistic and enormously touching.
Gianni and Paolo begin to bond, to share their lives, to explain the fifteen year gap in their relationship, and Gianni agrees to fulfill Paolo's dream of going to Norway to meet Paolo's pen pal love Kristine. Along this 'road trip' the two ultimately face the idiosyncrasies life has offered each, they grow from each other and .... well, the ending is far too beautifully formed to spoil.
Obviously the easy way to make this film would have been to hire actors to 'mimic' challenged characters, but it is to Amelio's credit and for our good fortune that he has cast unknown physically challenged youths in the pivotal roles. Andrea Rossi as Paolo is a revelation: he gives the kind of performance that is at once honest and yet delicately nuanced. Both Kip Rossi Stuart and Charlotte Rampling are extraordinary, each playing their roles without a trace of bathos. This film does not stab for emotional response; it simply allows connection with a story about the importance of human love and compassion and family commitment. I cannot recommend a film more highly. Grady Harp.
Amelio begins his story quietly and progresses slowly, allowing the viewer to cope with the realities of the tale in a manner of comfort. In the opening scene Gianni (Kim Rossi Stuart) is meeting with Alberto (Pierfrancesco Favino) in a frank discussion about the status of Paolo (Andrea Rossi), the son of Gianni whom he has never seen, the child being born as his girlfriend dies in childbirth. Alberto and his wife have been caring for Paolo for fifteen years, loving him, admiring him, working with the fact that Paolo has cerebral palsy with he concomitant handicaps of distorted limbs but with a mind and heart completely normal. Paolo's doctor has informed Alberto that perhaps having Paolo connect with his birth father may aid his progress in walking normally and increasing his self-care. So at this meeting Alberto, regrettably, turns Paolo over to the hesitant Gianni, an appliances worker who is now married and has a new child.
Gianni and Paolo meet for the first time, board a train to Berlin for the best Children's Orthopedic Hospital available. Very gradually the two begin to learn about each other; Paolo wants to prove he is self-reliant, Gianni wants to prove he is an adequate caregiver. In Berlin Gianni observes Paolo's intensive physical training, finding the boy's strengths and qualities and need for love. While Paolo is hospitalized Gianni meets Nicole (the brilliant Charlotte Rampling) whose 20-year-old daughter Nadine (Alla Faerovich) is severely physically challenged: Nicole has devoted her life to being at the bedside of Nadine and shares with Gianni the truths about parenting challenged children. Their conversations are sage and realistic and enormously touching.
Gianni and Paolo begin to bond, to share their lives, to explain the fifteen year gap in their relationship, and Gianni agrees to fulfill Paolo's dream of going to Norway to meet Paolo's pen pal love Kristine. Along this 'road trip' the two ultimately face the idiosyncrasies life has offered each, they grow from each other and .... well, the ending is far too beautifully formed to spoil.
Obviously the easy way to make this film would have been to hire actors to 'mimic' challenged characters, but it is to Amelio's credit and for our good fortune that he has cast unknown physically challenged youths in the pivotal roles. Andrea Rossi as Paolo is a revelation: he gives the kind of performance that is at once honest and yet delicately nuanced. Both Kip Rossi Stuart and Charlotte Rampling are extraordinary, each playing their roles without a trace of bathos. This film does not stab for emotional response; it simply allows connection with a story about the importance of human love and compassion and family commitment. I cannot recommend a film more highly. Grady Harp.
A movie. Or a special conversation.
Vincentiu19 April 2008
Story about love, duty and the shadows of past. About the touch of two different worlds, about a child and his father and the forms of beauty and freedom. A movie about essential things of passing days and the heart of words, images and appearances. A film of an actor, the impressive Andrea Rossi, delicate, expressive, natural. Basic, manifesto for understand a disease. In fact, lesson about the science to discover the other. About the way for be yourself. A film as a water. Colors, nuances, gravel. And subtle interpretation of Charlotte Rampling, the strain of Stuart Rossi's character and the gestures of special star - Andrea Rossi. Touching, profound and natural. A movie like a time of world's contemplation in deep silence. As walk on the beach in the evening. Or a time of talk with your feelings.
Love Locked Out
writers_reign9 April 2005
Warning: Spoilers
One sign that a film has failed to hook and hold the viewer is if 'awkward' questions keep niggling away as you watch and prevent you from surrendering to whatever charm or other qualities it may possess. Or, to put it another way, sloppy writing. Let me show you what I mean. Scene #1. Two guys are talking more awkwardly than easily. One, a rugged, truckdriver type the other a handsome actor type. They both appear to be in their thirties but the truckdriver looks about ten years older than the actor. It gradually emerges that the actor fathered a child some years ago, the child is handicapped in some way and the truckdriver and (presumably) his wife have raised him as their own but now the truckdriver is turning him over to the actor, perhaps by mutual consent, perhaps reluctantly, it is never explained. We assume that the actor abandoned the mother sometime before the birth and that the truckdriver then married her or, alternatively the truckdriver is the brother of the abandoned mother and has brought up the child with his own wife so that the child has had access to neither biological parent. Cut to a train en route to Berlin where the boy will undergo tests/treatment at a clinic specialising in disablement. The actor keeps losing the boy; first on the train, a sleeper, he wakes up to find the boy in the dining car, next, at the hospital itself, whilst the actor is talking the boy slips away and explores other areas. Finally and most serious of all the boy disappears from a sports stadium, takes a tram and winds up in the depot, the last passenger. Incredibly, having realised the boy is lost the actor chooses this moment to reveal his back story to Charlotte Rampling rather than search for a severely handicapped boy who is alone in a strange city. But long before this point other questions have surfaced: Where, for instance, does the actor/father get the money to 1)travel to Berlin, 2)take an expensive-looking suite at a hotel, 3)presumably pay for his son to have treatment plus a room in the hospital, 4) hire a car and drive to Norway. Apart from the money aspect what about the TIME he is spending away from his family and his job. At one point fairly early on he tells his son that he works with white goods - refrigerators, cookers, etc - making sure they work, which sounds like a repairman. He also reveals that he has a wife and an infant which begs the question how does his wife - possibly several years younger given she has had a child of her own less than a year ago - feel about taking on a fifteen year old handicapped boy, this is important because towards the end of the film the father asks the boy to come and live with him. The film leaves you strangely unmoved, verging on indifferent or, as a good friend of mine might put it, refusing to be manipulated. It misses the 'heart' of the similar movie The Eighth Day by a mile. Non-actress Charlotte Rampling has little to do but look noble, which is just as well, in a role that could be played by any semi-competent actress. Similarly Kim Rossi Stuart has little to do but look handsome and slightly bemused. Apparently they made a lot of fuss about this one at Venice and whilst I can't quite see why I do concede that it was better than Vera Drake - which apparently beat it out of first prize - but then how hard is that.
An astounding lead performance by a handicapped actor, takes your breath away
robert-temple-122 March 2008
This film is remarkable for doing what I would have considered completely impossible, namely featuring a young boy who is severely handicapped as the lead actor, and succeeding brilliantly. The boy is Andrea Rossi, and his performance is one of the great cinema performances of the decade. I don't know how this was possible. Even allowing for the obvious fact that the director, Gianni Amelio, is a man of unique sensitivity and even of genius, I do not know how such a handicapped boy could be such a super-star. It is totally astounding. Those of us who have known handicapped people realize how charming they can be in private. But the idea that a boy so seriously handicapped could totally dominate an entire feature film and be so up-front, and project his personality so powerfully, is absolutely incredible. This is some kind of magic hitherto unknown! Andrea Rossi is not only honest and direct, he is a communicator at a major level. He proves what fantastic talents lie buried deep within people suffering from certain handicaps, and which never emerge because no opportunity ever presents itself. Really, there are no words to express the astonishment and delight with which any honest person would greet the experience of this screen performance by a boy who can barely walk, can barely write, and is handicapped in so many ways (I have no idea of what his illness really is) that he could easily be dismissed by the thoughtless as being unable to participate in normal human society or indeed to have any worth or importance as an individual human being. Andrea Rossi has struck a blow for all handicapped people everywhere, by proving beyond any doubt that appearances can be deceptive, and that someone who looks hopelessly handicapped and barely able to communicate can in actuality be highly alert, intelligent, witty, sensitive, creative, innovative, self-deprecating, amusing, and loving. What an amazing fellow Andrea Rossi is! And he was only twelve years old when he made this film! As for the others in the film, there are spectacular performances also by Kim Rossi Stuart as the boy's father, and Charlotte Rampling as the mother of a more severely handicapped girl. The film is so emotional, so powerful, that you will rarely see anything more moving in your lifetime. The direction is perfect. Everything is perfectly judged and perfectly executed. The interviews with Rampling and Rossi Stuart on the DVD are important and should be watched. I had no idea what a profound thinker and intellectual Rampling is until I saw her talking to the camera about the meaning and significance of this film. She should write books on the philosophy of the cinema. But probably her performances are her philosophy, expressed directly, and aimed straight for the gut. How amazing this film is in every way!
All the body can take
klauskind1 October 2004
Warning: Spoilers
'Le chiavi di casa'(Home's keys) is an Italian movie about a father and his 15-year old disabled child. The boy can't walk properly, his arms seem permanently bent in a 90 degree angle, his upper back is slightly hunched forwards. The movie is tough, unsentimental, and all the more moving for that.
The father Gianni, has never seen Paolo, his child. The reason will be unveiled in the second half of the movie and it enables the viewer to identify with the father: we get to know Paolo at the same pace his father does. They are on a trip to a Berlin hospital dedicated to rehabilitative therapies and treatment for the disabled.
It's a journey back to a lost fatherhood for Gianni and it's shown through the physical rapport between father and son. The first time Gianni meets Paolo he doesn't so much as touch him. The boy is asleep in his train compartment. The camera doesn't show us his face. Gianni is hesitant about his role as a father and they're still strangers.
In the next 'phase' Gianni tends to Paolo, he helps him to walk, to go to the bathroom, he washes him.... Then a crucial scene comes: Gianni witnesses a therapy session. Paolo walks back and forth aided by a kind of cane on small wheels. The process is painful and Paolo suffers. It is at this moment that Gianni acknowledges his son's body as one not to be aided or 'corrected' but as one capable of suffering and therefore, of affection too. This realization culminates in a beautiful scene in which Gianni starts by arranging Paolo's hair and then kisses him and caresses him every other second as if the boy were a 'cagnolino', a little pet dog. But this is not a rosy postcard.
At the Berlin hospital Gianni meets a French lady (Charlotte Rampling) who has a severely disabled daughter, she's been tending to her every need for over 20 years. This lady has a tendency to be brutally honest without ever really being impolite, but in one of their encounters she tries to put a brave face on things when Gianni asks her how she can look so serene after all she's been through. She doesn't tell all the truth and that's a crime that an actress as talented as Rampling cannot leave unpunished, and I guess that's why Amelio wanted her for the part. The next scene is formally simple and elegantly executed and we see in Rampling's face and hear in her lines what her character has been through during all those years, how her body has also suffered.
The three main actors are great, Kim Rossi, Rampling and the kid, Andrea. Kudos to Amelio, the director.
The father Gianni, has never seen Paolo, his child. The reason will be unveiled in the second half of the movie and it enables the viewer to identify with the father: we get to know Paolo at the same pace his father does. They are on a trip to a Berlin hospital dedicated to rehabilitative therapies and treatment for the disabled.
It's a journey back to a lost fatherhood for Gianni and it's shown through the physical rapport between father and son. The first time Gianni meets Paolo he doesn't so much as touch him. The boy is asleep in his train compartment. The camera doesn't show us his face. Gianni is hesitant about his role as a father and they're still strangers.
In the next 'phase' Gianni tends to Paolo, he helps him to walk, to go to the bathroom, he washes him.... Then a crucial scene comes: Gianni witnesses a therapy session. Paolo walks back and forth aided by a kind of cane on small wheels. The process is painful and Paolo suffers. It is at this moment that Gianni acknowledges his son's body as one not to be aided or 'corrected' but as one capable of suffering and therefore, of affection too. This realization culminates in a beautiful scene in which Gianni starts by arranging Paolo's hair and then kisses him and caresses him every other second as if the boy were a 'cagnolino', a little pet dog. But this is not a rosy postcard.
At the Berlin hospital Gianni meets a French lady (Charlotte Rampling) who has a severely disabled daughter, she's been tending to her every need for over 20 years. This lady has a tendency to be brutally honest without ever really being impolite, but in one of their encounters she tries to put a brave face on things when Gianni asks her how she can look so serene after all she's been through. She doesn't tell all the truth and that's a crime that an actress as talented as Rampling cannot leave unpunished, and I guess that's why Amelio wanted her for the part. The next scene is formally simple and elegantly executed and we see in Rampling's face and hear in her lines what her character has been through during all those years, how her body has also suffered.
The three main actors are great, Kim Rossi, Rampling and the kid, Andrea. Kudos to Amelio, the director.
Life is not easy
PAolo-1029 January 2005
This is the first Amelio movie to be released in the US, at least in a Film Festival setting, in over ten years since Lamerica. But the director's style is still memorable. The camera scans slowly the lost faces of the actors without pity or shame. There is no plastic, no trinkets, no nudging at the spectator. We are there watching and not, it's not really as straightforward as we'd want it.
As in "Stolen Children" or "Lamerica", the main character ambles on scene, uncertain of his role in the life of others or just very mistaken. It learns--maybe, the hard way, one feeling at the time. Kim Rossi Stuart takes the place of Enrico Lo Verso, with a similar style, eyes lost and the silence prevailing over revelatory dialog, but the star is his son in the movie, Andrea Rossi There are no cheap shot. There is no need to. Piety, compassion come from something deeper, and Amelio definitely gets to the grittier level of human emotion. Charlotte Rampling has an amazing role, as the mother of young handicapped woman and the symbolic chorus for the interior dialog of the protagonist. And the dialog is pure and scary as it can be.
It's refreshing to see such moving work that skillfully avoids all the traps of classic Hollywood tearjerkers. The movie reminded me rather of Kenzaburo Oe's "Teach Us to Outgrow our Madness", but it's actually inspired to Giuseppe Pontiggia's "Nati due Volte" (Born Twice), and Amelio pays homage both to the writer and the book in the course of the movie.
As in "Stolen Children" or "Lamerica", the main character ambles on scene, uncertain of his role in the life of others or just very mistaken. It learns--maybe, the hard way, one feeling at the time. Kim Rossi Stuart takes the place of Enrico Lo Verso, with a similar style, eyes lost and the silence prevailing over revelatory dialog, but the star is his son in the movie, Andrea Rossi There are no cheap shot. There is no need to. Piety, compassion come from something deeper, and Amelio definitely gets to the grittier level of human emotion. Charlotte Rampling has an amazing role, as the mother of young handicapped woman and the symbolic chorus for the interior dialog of the protagonist. And the dialog is pure and scary as it can be.
It's refreshing to see such moving work that skillfully avoids all the traps of classic Hollywood tearjerkers. The movie reminded me rather of Kenzaburo Oe's "Teach Us to Outgrow our Madness", but it's actually inspired to Giuseppe Pontiggia's "Nati due Volte" (Born Twice), and Amelio pays homage both to the writer and the book in the course of the movie.
greater potential
debbielow6917 March 2006
This movie could have been extremely heartwarming, considering the handicaps of the young boy and his struggles to be a functioning part of society, along with his relationship with his 'new' dad. I was expecting such tremendous emotion and drama, and the story left me with so many questions about the normalcy of it all. One thing that really disturbed me, and I'm suspecting this to be as a result of it being a foreign film, is that as cheesy as it sometimes may be, the film was sorely lacking background music. That missing element made the experience dry compared to what it could have been. The young boy playing Andrea was absolutely inspiring, though, and I found myself wondering how it must have been for him to memorize lines and follow directions in the making of this movie. Charlotte Rampling performed beautifully and convincingly. The father was just plain beautiful; I had a difficult time figuring out his character. My recommendation for this film is really 50-50.
Too subtly touching to put into words...
vampirock_x11 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This intimately beautiful DVD cover impressed me among the disc sea two years ago, which made me buy it when my cinematic experience just shifted from blockbusters to other quality films.
At that time, I hadn't the slightest idea of Michelangelo Antonioni and Charlotte Rampling, but I was rewarded by my intuition.
Following the story of an once cold-hearted, immature father united with his handicapped son whom he left at his birth, this film depicts how the father and son got along with each other during the son's treatment.
The two of them lived all by each other in a paternal tranquility during the therapy days when Nicole, Rampling's character played as a mother of a handicapped daughter, walked into their life and shared with Gianni her feelings for her daughter.
That maternal relationship, as paralleled and yet quite different from Gianni's paternal one, is crucial for the self-realization of him.
As for the title, I'm more willing to interpret it as "The keys to the Houses"---to the house of Paolo's uncle, Gianni's guilty past; to the house of the hotel, the father and son's intimate present; to the house of Gianni's, the heart-warming and happy future; most essentially, to the hearts of the father and son. It was the son's choice. It was the father's effort. They wondered between all those doors, striving for a end-result.
As soon as Kim appeared first on the screen, I knew, "right now I'm watching the (not one of) most handsome man on the earth..." (Well, that's long before Brandon Routh came up with his superman. however, they are of different categories in which they reign respectively in my opinion.) Let alone the height, Kim's face is, judging from every angle, perfectly shaped and it has the magic to draw you instantly into the picture wherever your mind is wondering. That's been proved when years later I watched Antonioni's Beyond the Clouds in which a younger Kim with long hair was already capable of imprisoning my attention.
I think one can easily understand the awkwardness you get when confronting with a handicapped child who always wears the same seeming smile whenever he's angry or sad, not to mention he's your once abandoned son.
He's immature, not knowing where his hand should put to support a handicapped child or even a healthy one; he's delicate, bursting to tears when Paolo angrily wished to be sent to his uncle; he's withdrawn, never showing too many expressions on his face except Paolo did to him something quite silly...He gave this paternal character life.
The film is elaborately made in every possible aspect. However, without obvious climax and twists and turns, this story took me floating on the calm development of the plot and yet kept me consciously touched.
Surely this is not the first film about father and son or handicapped children, but the difference this film makes is that, instead of forcing you into the emotion with dramatic acting and moving episodes, it unfolds the feelings and daily interaction of characters as subtly as possible, making the story real and exquisite, like a documentary.
That's why no tear of mine drops during watching. However, I was overwhelmed and introduced into living in the story.
Usually I will write a review of exactly the same feeling as the movie conveys, but this time I didn't. I know, as for this one, it's too subtle to put into words. I didn't want to fail.
At that time, I hadn't the slightest idea of Michelangelo Antonioni and Charlotte Rampling, but I was rewarded by my intuition.
Following the story of an once cold-hearted, immature father united with his handicapped son whom he left at his birth, this film depicts how the father and son got along with each other during the son's treatment.
The two of them lived all by each other in a paternal tranquility during the therapy days when Nicole, Rampling's character played as a mother of a handicapped daughter, walked into their life and shared with Gianni her feelings for her daughter.
That maternal relationship, as paralleled and yet quite different from Gianni's paternal one, is crucial for the self-realization of him.
As for the title, I'm more willing to interpret it as "The keys to the Houses"---to the house of Paolo's uncle, Gianni's guilty past; to the house of the hotel, the father and son's intimate present; to the house of Gianni's, the heart-warming and happy future; most essentially, to the hearts of the father and son. It was the son's choice. It was the father's effort. They wondered between all those doors, striving for a end-result.
As soon as Kim appeared first on the screen, I knew, "right now I'm watching the (not one of) most handsome man on the earth..." (Well, that's long before Brandon Routh came up with his superman. however, they are of different categories in which they reign respectively in my opinion.) Let alone the height, Kim's face is, judging from every angle, perfectly shaped and it has the magic to draw you instantly into the picture wherever your mind is wondering. That's been proved when years later I watched Antonioni's Beyond the Clouds in which a younger Kim with long hair was already capable of imprisoning my attention.
I think one can easily understand the awkwardness you get when confronting with a handicapped child who always wears the same seeming smile whenever he's angry or sad, not to mention he's your once abandoned son.
He's immature, not knowing where his hand should put to support a handicapped child or even a healthy one; he's delicate, bursting to tears when Paolo angrily wished to be sent to his uncle; he's withdrawn, never showing too many expressions on his face except Paolo did to him something quite silly...He gave this paternal character life.
The film is elaborately made in every possible aspect. However, without obvious climax and twists and turns, this story took me floating on the calm development of the plot and yet kept me consciously touched.
Surely this is not the first film about father and son or handicapped children, but the difference this film makes is that, instead of forcing you into the emotion with dramatic acting and moving episodes, it unfolds the feelings and daily interaction of characters as subtly as possible, making the story real and exquisite, like a documentary.
That's why no tear of mine drops during watching. However, I was overwhelmed and introduced into living in the story.
Usually I will write a review of exactly the same feeling as the movie conveys, but this time I didn't. I know, as for this one, it's too subtle to put into words. I didn't want to fail.
Authenticity and tenderness
howard.schumann27 March 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Raising children under normal circumstances requires patience, consistency, and lots of love. Raising a child with special needs requires even more of those attributes plus an infinite capacity to endure the pain of seeing your child suffer. Winner of the Best Picture Award at the 2004 Venice Film Festival, Keys to the House explores the path of a young father who abandoned his disabled son fifteen years ago and now seeks to redeem their relationship without fully comprehending what is expected of him. Loosely based on Giuseppe Pontiggia's 2000 novel Born Twice, Keys to the House is the latest film by Italian director Gianni Amelio (L'America, Stolen Children) who is known for his deeply humane portraits of conflicting relationships between generations.
Gianni (Kim Rossi Stuart), an appliance worker in his mid-thirties, lives with his wife and young son in Milan, Italy. Fifteen years ago, he fathered a handicapped boy named Paolo (Andrea Rossi) with a teenage girlfriend who died during childbirth. At the request of the boy's uncle (Pierfrancesco Favino) who raised Paolo, Gianni meets his son for the first time en route to a Berlin hospital where the boy is scheduled to undergo a new round of testing at a hospital for handicapped children. Paolo, now a teenager, has physical and mental challenges resulting from childbirth trauma and walks with the aid of a cane. The father-son reunion is fraught with difficulties and many awkward moments. In spite of his difficulties, Paolo is bright, fun loving, and full of charm but has mood swings and erratic mental patterns. Gianni is hesitant at first, uncertain how to react to his unpredictable behavior and stumbles when trying to help him dress or assist him in going to the bathroom.
Paolo, though trusting, views Gianni with some embarrassment and asks him to leave during some invasive hospital testing. At the hospital, Gianni meets another parent (Charlotte Rampling as Nicole) whose daughter Nadine (Alla Faerovich) is severely handicapped with Cerebral Palsy. Her empathy and wisdom help him come to terms with the guilt he feels for having abandoned his son and increases his awareness of the difficulties involved in raising a handicapped child. When the hospital therapists push Paolo to the point of exhaustion with their exacting regimen, Gianni instinctively removes him and takes him on a road trip to Norway in hopes of meeting a young girl Paolo knows only through an exchange of photos. On the journey back, Gianni comes face to face with the true requirements of his commitment to Paolo and the result is deeply moving.
Keys to the House is an involving drama about the difficulties involved in taking responsibility for past mistakes and developing the inner strength to cope with the results. The acting is uniformly outstanding, especially that of Andrea Rossi, a young Italian actor with Muscular Dystrophy, who brings Paolo fully to life. Though some elements of the plot are puzzling, Keys to the House is not about plot but about feelings and relationships. It is a courageous film that sparkles with authenticity and tenderness. It avoids easy consolations and trite solutions, challenging us to confront our limitations, particularly our inability to always be the person our children need us to be. While Keys to the House may not be Amelio's best film, it is his most emotionally compelling and fully establishes him as being in the very front rank of contemporary directors.
Gianni (Kim Rossi Stuart), an appliance worker in his mid-thirties, lives with his wife and young son in Milan, Italy. Fifteen years ago, he fathered a handicapped boy named Paolo (Andrea Rossi) with a teenage girlfriend who died during childbirth. At the request of the boy's uncle (Pierfrancesco Favino) who raised Paolo, Gianni meets his son for the first time en route to a Berlin hospital where the boy is scheduled to undergo a new round of testing at a hospital for handicapped children. Paolo, now a teenager, has physical and mental challenges resulting from childbirth trauma and walks with the aid of a cane. The father-son reunion is fraught with difficulties and many awkward moments. In spite of his difficulties, Paolo is bright, fun loving, and full of charm but has mood swings and erratic mental patterns. Gianni is hesitant at first, uncertain how to react to his unpredictable behavior and stumbles when trying to help him dress or assist him in going to the bathroom.
Paolo, though trusting, views Gianni with some embarrassment and asks him to leave during some invasive hospital testing. At the hospital, Gianni meets another parent (Charlotte Rampling as Nicole) whose daughter Nadine (Alla Faerovich) is severely handicapped with Cerebral Palsy. Her empathy and wisdom help him come to terms with the guilt he feels for having abandoned his son and increases his awareness of the difficulties involved in raising a handicapped child. When the hospital therapists push Paolo to the point of exhaustion with their exacting regimen, Gianni instinctively removes him and takes him on a road trip to Norway in hopes of meeting a young girl Paolo knows only through an exchange of photos. On the journey back, Gianni comes face to face with the true requirements of his commitment to Paolo and the result is deeply moving.
Keys to the House is an involving drama about the difficulties involved in taking responsibility for past mistakes and developing the inner strength to cope with the results. The acting is uniformly outstanding, especially that of Andrea Rossi, a young Italian actor with Muscular Dystrophy, who brings Paolo fully to life. Though some elements of the plot are puzzling, Keys to the House is not about plot but about feelings and relationships. It is a courageous film that sparkles with authenticity and tenderness. It avoids easy consolations and trite solutions, challenging us to confront our limitations, particularly our inability to always be the person our children need us to be. While Keys to the House may not be Amelio's best film, it is his most emotionally compelling and fully establishes him as being in the very front rank of contemporary directors.
witty, unsentimental but affecting
veganblt3 September 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I was so very affected by this piece, it moved in a steady pace from the meeting of Paolo and Gianni to their travel to Germany and their time in the hospital. The director presents Paolo as an incredibly spirited adolescent; you can't help but be curious about him and follow him throughout the day. He is very independent and his new father attaches himself to his son as a sort of handler but soon he becomes very emotionally attached. It's mesmerizing to watch Paolo because he's such a fully formed character, very witty and always brightening the mood of others around him yet unafraid to speak candidly. As we follow Paolo the film learns more about his story and the story of Gianni. The film moves very quickly and is without a wounded sentiment that one might expect. Although I did cry in moments of rehabilitation, I was not exhausted from a guilt or sadness but almost charmed.
does what we avoid truly go away? Do we really want it to?
suhuso-123 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Amazing how a simple, straightforward film shot in almost a documentary style can be seen in completely different ways by different people. The Keys to the House is a strangely moving, yet unsentimental tale about how real people react when confronted with both trauma and disability. Some stay and carry the burden. Others run away. We all think we would stay, but how sure are we? Once the decision is made to run, consciously or otherwise, how do we come back? When there is no direct contact, the avoided lessens in personal value; but does what we avoid truly go away? Do we really want it to?
The main protagonists in the film are a disabled boy and the father who abandoned him at birth. Many reviews were judgmental of the father's rejection of a disabled child,although this was not a factor in the actual abandonment - both he and the boy's mother were teenagers when she became pregnant. The fact that she died giving birth to his child fed his guilt, imagined or not, that he was to blame for her death. He barely stayed with her mother and sister at the hospital to hear what happened to the baby.
That reaction and his continued refusal to try to at least see his son, eventually raised by the mother's sister and her husband, smacks of fear and immaturity rather than cold-hearted rejection. He is introduced to us as the impossibly perfect Kim Rossi Stuart, an actor so beautiful we are immediately disdainful of him - did he leave because the child was not as perfect as he? We are suspicious of his motives in suddenly coming into the boy's life after 15 years although he is not the person to initiate contact.
The boy's doctors have suggested that meeting his birth father may help speed effectiveness of the boy's developmental therapy, so he is literally cornered into it by the uncle, who against his wife's wishes arranges to have the father escort the boy to specialized therapy in Germany. It is clear that the uncle does this out of love for the boy, but why does the father agree to do it?
In subtle ways, we see he is not without feeling for the boy - he is hesitant to touch him yet devours him with his eyes; as the story progresses, his contact becomes increasingly tactile - as one reviewer said, stroking him almost as if he were a pet.
The choice of actors is brilliant for the same reasons another reviewer found unpalatable - in real life, disabled people can come from the most physically "perfect" human specimens - in this case the child's disability was as a result of birth trauma. The father is as emotionally damaged as the son is physically - they both seem to need each other on an almost primal level.
It minimizes the intelligence of both the actor (Andrea Rossi)and his character Paolo, the son, not to recognize this. Mood swings and repetition do not negate a functioning heart or mind in Paolo; he is aware of more than we think. The actor Andrea Rossi (is he related to Kim Rossi Stuart?) is brilliant as Paolo; that he is also afflicted with muscular dystrophy makes his performance even more affecting. I reject the review that suggests this disability as the reason we should cheer his acting, however; MUSCULAR dystrophy does not affect the mind (Steven Hawking?) even if the director supposedly fed him lines off-camera, his innate ability (I thought he was ACTING the physical part) is what actually made Paolo believable as a character.
As always, Charlotte Rampling is excellent as the mother of another patient in Paolo's hospital. She has taken on her daughter's disability as her life's-work. Yet even she is human and has wished to run away. The difference between the parents is that she continues to do, despite the occasional lapse. Paolo's father has to grow up and come to terms with the reality of the disability as well as his newfound love for his son as a person before they can move on as father and son. That he is willing to continue to try, after failing several times, is his most redeeming factor in the movie.
The main protagonists in the film are a disabled boy and the father who abandoned him at birth. Many reviews were judgmental of the father's rejection of a disabled child,although this was not a factor in the actual abandonment - both he and the boy's mother were teenagers when she became pregnant. The fact that she died giving birth to his child fed his guilt, imagined or not, that he was to blame for her death. He barely stayed with her mother and sister at the hospital to hear what happened to the baby.
That reaction and his continued refusal to try to at least see his son, eventually raised by the mother's sister and her husband, smacks of fear and immaturity rather than cold-hearted rejection. He is introduced to us as the impossibly perfect Kim Rossi Stuart, an actor so beautiful we are immediately disdainful of him - did he leave because the child was not as perfect as he? We are suspicious of his motives in suddenly coming into the boy's life after 15 years although he is not the person to initiate contact.
The boy's doctors have suggested that meeting his birth father may help speed effectiveness of the boy's developmental therapy, so he is literally cornered into it by the uncle, who against his wife's wishes arranges to have the father escort the boy to specialized therapy in Germany. It is clear that the uncle does this out of love for the boy, but why does the father agree to do it?
In subtle ways, we see he is not without feeling for the boy - he is hesitant to touch him yet devours him with his eyes; as the story progresses, his contact becomes increasingly tactile - as one reviewer said, stroking him almost as if he were a pet.
The choice of actors is brilliant for the same reasons another reviewer found unpalatable - in real life, disabled people can come from the most physically "perfect" human specimens - in this case the child's disability was as a result of birth trauma. The father is as emotionally damaged as the son is physically - they both seem to need each other on an almost primal level.
It minimizes the intelligence of both the actor (Andrea Rossi)and his character Paolo, the son, not to recognize this. Mood swings and repetition do not negate a functioning heart or mind in Paolo; he is aware of more than we think. The actor Andrea Rossi (is he related to Kim Rossi Stuart?) is brilliant as Paolo; that he is also afflicted with muscular dystrophy makes his performance even more affecting. I reject the review that suggests this disability as the reason we should cheer his acting, however; MUSCULAR dystrophy does not affect the mind (Steven Hawking?) even if the director supposedly fed him lines off-camera, his innate ability (I thought he was ACTING the physical part) is what actually made Paolo believable as a character.
As always, Charlotte Rampling is excellent as the mother of another patient in Paolo's hospital. She has taken on her daughter's disability as her life's-work. Yet even she is human and has wished to run away. The difference between the parents is that she continues to do, despite the occasional lapse. Paolo's father has to grow up and come to terms with the reality of the disability as well as his newfound love for his son as a person before they can move on as father and son. That he is willing to continue to try, after failing several times, is his most redeeming factor in the movie.
A special road movie
michelerealini10 October 2004
Gianni (Kim Rossi Stuart) has never seen his son Paolo, who is disabled. But Fate makes them meet, Gianni accompanies him to Germany where the child can follow a new therapy... It is also a trip where the young father tries to catch up with the relationship with his son. In hospital Gianni meets a woman (Charlotte Rampling) who has a also a disabled daughter, a woman which teaches him very much about accepting differences.
Gianni Amelio doesn't direct a spectacular movie about handicap (it's not like "Rain Man"), he directs a road movie which seems sometimes (from a technical point of view) a documentary. There's not room for too many tears, dramas and moralistic considerations. It's a pretty film which has the goal of showing problems the way they are, without exaggerations. There's much reality and humanity.
Gianni Amelio doesn't direct a spectacular movie about handicap (it's not like "Rain Man"), he directs a road movie which seems sometimes (from a technical point of view) a documentary. There's not room for too many tears, dramas and moralistic considerations. It's a pretty film which has the goal of showing problems the way they are, without exaggerations. There's much reality and humanity.
Some things make little sense in this film.
FilmCriticLalitRao25 September 2008
If somebody knows a hundred odd things about Italian cinema then it must be assumed that that person must surely have heard of Gianni Amelio.He is a great figure of Italian auteur cinema having made important films like Colpire al cuore,Il Ladro di bambini,Lamerica and Così ridevano.It is sad to state but a hard to digest truth is that "Le Chiavi di casa" is a film for which Gianni Amelio has failed miserably.There are elements in this film which have the potential to emotionally stir a viewer but they do not have any effect as they are presented in a disconnected manner.This is a film about a father and his troubled relationship with his invalid son but so many questions are left unanswered.It is not sure whether this film is favoring invalid children or is just showing fake sympathy.Casting for the film has not been done properly.There are times when "Le Chiavi di casa" appears as a pathetic euro pudding as it features an English actress Charlotte Rampling sharing screen space with an Italian actor Kim Rossi Stuart in Germany.
Wonderful And Insightful Film
blue1415 April 2012
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is a masterpiece of human emotion, thought, and relationships. For me the best moment of the movie was when the Father looked down on his sleeping child on the train to Berlin. At that moment, his heart was lost to the boy whether he wanted it to be or not. The Dad showed much love for his boy through-out the film, and made sure the boy knew it. He gave him many treats and acts of love such as hugs and kisses on his cheeks. A truly moving scene was when he wiped his Sons face and hands with the towel after the boy made a run for it in the hallway. The Father made sure his Son knew who was boss when the remote control scene took place. All police tell parents to stay put when their child is missing so updates can be given to them. Trying to find anybody in a big city, one is not familiar with, is not the best idea. He showed his Son great compassion when he took him to see his love interest, knowing the boy might be made fun of or rebuffed in an unkind way. This shows a wonderful understanding of being a parent, letting your children get hurt emotionally so they can grow emotionally in their lives. Throwing the cane into the sea was a profound act of love and understanding that this one thing to protect his Son from ridicule was all he could do for him on his journey to meet the girl of his dreams without embarrassment. My thoughts on the boy going to live with his Father, it was never going to happen. It was a fantasy of the Father wanting to make everything OK between him and his Son. When the Father broke down and cried, he knew when the boy acted up, that this trip together was all they would have, maybe for a long time. The Father understood his wife could not and probably would not be able to meet the demands of the boys needs and take care of their baby. The Father had to work, so this was the way it had to be. When the boy said I am here with you and you cry, the Father knew when they were together, that is all that counted at that time. There was great love shown by the Father throughout the movie, and it was was a perfect showing of his affection for his Son. Wonderful wonderful film.
The absent father
jotix10015 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
It's inconceivable how a father can abandon a child at all. Gianni, the man at the center of this story, has done that when he saw his lover die during the delivery of the child, but the baby survived. The baby is born with cerebral palsy that leaves him physically handicapped. After fifteen years, Gianni suddenly comes around to take his son Paolo to a German hospital so he can undergo some rehabilitation.
Thus begins a journey in which director Gianni Amelio takes us along to witness how the father and the son get acquainted after all those years. Paolo, the son, realizes Gianni is the missing father. He is quite an extraordinary boy in spite of the fact that he can't walk without the help of a cane. Gianni, at the beginning, is cautious of what he does because this is obvious a situation he didn't look for, but fell on him as part of having been absent all those years from his son's life.
As Paolo is being tested at the hospital, Gianni meets Nicole, who is at the hospital because her daughter is also being treated there. Nicole asks questions and Gianni is reluctant to answer, but she guesses what the nature of the relationship is like. Gianni, who doesn't have any experience with his son's problems, wonders how Nicole has been able to cope all those years. When the final revelation is bared, little prepares us for what she has to say, yet, it's only a human reaction.
Paolo and Gianni end up bonding in more ways than either one expected. Gianni surprises his son by taking him to Norway, where Kristine, a young pen pal of Paolo lives. Although they never get to see the girl, the trip serves for them to find a common ground and for Gianni to accept his responsibility. The last scene is a revelation as Gianni breaks down after realizing what a monster he has been to this son that he just have met.
Gianni Amelio's genius lies in the way he tells his story in which there is no recriminations or cheap hysterics, which would have derailed the picture. Mr. Amelio is also to be commended for the way he has presented the story and for the interesting cast he put together to portray the people on the story. Kim Rossi Stuart makes a good Gianni, the father. Andrea Rossi seems to be a natural for the camera; as young Paolo, he shows more common sense and acceptance than his father. The great Charlotte Rampling plays the pivotal role of Nicole. It's her example, and stoicism, that makes Gianni think about the monstrosity of his actions and learns to love his son.
It's a shame more films by Mr. Amelio don't reach us. He is a man with a conscience who wants to raise our awareness.
Thus begins a journey in which director Gianni Amelio takes us along to witness how the father and the son get acquainted after all those years. Paolo, the son, realizes Gianni is the missing father. He is quite an extraordinary boy in spite of the fact that he can't walk without the help of a cane. Gianni, at the beginning, is cautious of what he does because this is obvious a situation he didn't look for, but fell on him as part of having been absent all those years from his son's life.
As Paolo is being tested at the hospital, Gianni meets Nicole, who is at the hospital because her daughter is also being treated there. Nicole asks questions and Gianni is reluctant to answer, but she guesses what the nature of the relationship is like. Gianni, who doesn't have any experience with his son's problems, wonders how Nicole has been able to cope all those years. When the final revelation is bared, little prepares us for what she has to say, yet, it's only a human reaction.
Paolo and Gianni end up bonding in more ways than either one expected. Gianni surprises his son by taking him to Norway, where Kristine, a young pen pal of Paolo lives. Although they never get to see the girl, the trip serves for them to find a common ground and for Gianni to accept his responsibility. The last scene is a revelation as Gianni breaks down after realizing what a monster he has been to this son that he just have met.
Gianni Amelio's genius lies in the way he tells his story in which there is no recriminations or cheap hysterics, which would have derailed the picture. Mr. Amelio is also to be commended for the way he has presented the story and for the interesting cast he put together to portray the people on the story. Kim Rossi Stuart makes a good Gianni, the father. Andrea Rossi seems to be a natural for the camera; as young Paolo, he shows more common sense and acceptance than his father. The great Charlotte Rampling plays the pivotal role of Nicole. It's her example, and stoicism, that makes Gianni think about the monstrosity of his actions and learns to love his son.
It's a shame more films by Mr. Amelio don't reach us. He is a man with a conscience who wants to raise our awareness.
10/10! Hit so Close to home ***May contain vaguely a spoiler****
ano_nimass25 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Being a special parent of and active in the community of special (aka mentally handicapped) children, this story hit close to home. Especially the way in which it illuminated two very subtle yet extraordinarily important aspects of the behavior and psychology of this child as well as a parent.
In the movie, the biological father Gianni is shown to have "given up" the child Paolo to another couple. I would interpret this not so much in a literal way, but more in an allegorical way, since even in real life, due to the trauma and complexity of parenting a special child, parents may "lose touch" with the child, even if the child is in house. It is a huge challenge, especially balancing the child's care with other aspects of life including social, career, health, other siblings of the child etc. All too often, the special child itself becomes only a tiny part of the whole "system" and mind numbing "details" of providing care.
The film also brilliantly portrays the resolution ["""potential spoiler***] of the above dilemma thats all too common in special parents' lives. Initially Gianni tries to deal with Paolo in a loving yet ultimately paternalistic way. But this doesn't get him anywhere near his goal of bonding with Paolo. In the end, only when Gianni literally breaks down, and becomes as helpless as a child himself, and lets Paolo comfort him as a father would, does the real bonding between father and son occur on a level playing field.
This is an incredibly insightful object lesson, and is so true in the often dark, challenging yet ultimately fulfilling lives of special parents.
This movie is a veritable ode to the divine relationship that exists between such parents and their special children.
I rate this movie 10/10 due to its authenticity and humanism.
PS: Another movie on the same topic, but from a siblings perspective is A Time For Drunken Horses by Bahman Ghobadi.
In the movie, the biological father Gianni is shown to have "given up" the child Paolo to another couple. I would interpret this not so much in a literal way, but more in an allegorical way, since even in real life, due to the trauma and complexity of parenting a special child, parents may "lose touch" with the child, even if the child is in house. It is a huge challenge, especially balancing the child's care with other aspects of life including social, career, health, other siblings of the child etc. All too often, the special child itself becomes only a tiny part of the whole "system" and mind numbing "details" of providing care.
The film also brilliantly portrays the resolution ["""potential spoiler***] of the above dilemma thats all too common in special parents' lives. Initially Gianni tries to deal with Paolo in a loving yet ultimately paternalistic way. But this doesn't get him anywhere near his goal of bonding with Paolo. In the end, only when Gianni literally breaks down, and becomes as helpless as a child himself, and lets Paolo comfort him as a father would, does the real bonding between father and son occur on a level playing field.
This is an incredibly insightful object lesson, and is so true in the often dark, challenging yet ultimately fulfilling lives of special parents.
This movie is a veritable ode to the divine relationship that exists between such parents and their special children.
I rate this movie 10/10 due to its authenticity and humanism.
PS: Another movie on the same topic, but from a siblings perspective is A Time For Drunken Horses by Bahman Ghobadi.
a thought provoking movie
consulthai-118 August 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Having read all the comments, there isn't much more than I could add except when the last scene was played I felt like crying with the father. I was watching the movie after my family went to bed and when the credits came on I went to my son's bedroom , looked at him sleeping peacefully and gave a silent prayer that he is able bodied and sound mind.The casting of the father was instrumental in making the movie feel real rather than a commercial for charity and seeing a handicapped boy act so brilliantly makes you realize the worth of each human being irrespective of their appearance. The reason I only gave it 8 stars because there were some implausible elements in the development of the story.
A big thanks to the Director and Scriptwriter!
A big thanks to the Director and Scriptwriter!
fatherhood
Kirpianuscus13 April 2017
a love story. or a friend story. beautiful for the science to use the right tone about a delicate and painful problem. a touching portrait of parenthood. and its nuances. and its price. and its limits. after its end, the basic thing who remains, long time, alive in memory, is its special simplicity. delicate, convincing, touching. like a confession. with its lovely form of poetry of small, basic things. with the science to not be more than honest exposure of well known facts. for the flavor of personal story. and , not the last, as the expected film.
Mediocre weepy
zetes23 September 2007
Warning: Spoilers
The story of a man (Kim Rossi Stuart) reuniting with the disabled son (Andrea Rossi) whom he abandoned at birth. This was Italy's official entry for the Academy's Best Foreign Film award, which makes perfect sense: it's the same kind of clichéd, sentimental crap that usually takes home Oscar gold. By some miracle, the Academy skipped it over (another story of disability, The Sea Inside, won that year). The Keys to the House pulls out just about every cliché imaginable. The most obnoxious is perhaps the fact that the boy's mother died in childbirth - which is why the father has ignored him for 15 years. Like many films dealing with the disabled, it sees them mostly as objects to be dealt with. A woman whom the father befriends during the film (played by Charlotte Rampling) also has a disabled child, and at one point she admits that she wishes her daughter would die. The only difference between this movie and your standard American prestige picture is an overbearing score. There are a couple of decent scenes, but, for the most part, and I thank it for this, the film is instantly forgettable. Avoid.
A quick comment and praise..
CinemaSista16 March 2007
I just saw this film, and since I don't like to talk about scenes in the film because I don't wish to spoil it for those who haven't seen it, I wanted to at least give my recommendation, and high praise for this piece. This is a film you have to see for yourself, the performances delivered are some of the best I have ever seen. It is so deeply moving and touching. My face was literally a faucet through the whole film, and I don't recall ever seeing and film that made that happen to me. As an actress myself, I can only hope to someday deliver performance such as the ones in this movie. There is so much said in this film without words, I was so deeply impressed. Needless to say, I give this 10 stars, and I heartily recommend it to everyone. *Note: It helps to have a box of Kleenex and a strong heart to watch this, also if you watch this and don't get "any" of it (for I know some may have trouble) you need to watch it again, because everything that needs to be said is there and more*
Brilliant
carriecoles0615 May 2005
Warning: Spoilers
This was the first Italian film that I have seen, and as a film student I was prepared for the worst, but I was proved wrong.
This film is like an emotional roller-coaster, one minute your laughing at Paolo's sarcasm and the next your crying at Gianni's hardship.
My favourite part of the film, is when the pair are writing the letter to Paolo's pen pal - the whole "period" fiasco had the entire cinema in stitches!
The end of this film is left open ended, so you leave the cinema wondering about the father-son relationship and if they will remain as close as they had become throughout the film.
I would definitely recommend this film, as it is directed and shot beautifully and the actors are simply great.
This film is like an emotional roller-coaster, one minute your laughing at Paolo's sarcasm and the next your crying at Gianni's hardship.
My favourite part of the film, is when the pair are writing the letter to Paolo's pen pal - the whole "period" fiasco had the entire cinema in stitches!
The end of this film is left open ended, so you leave the cinema wondering about the father-son relationship and if they will remain as close as they had become throughout the film.
I would definitely recommend this film, as it is directed and shot beautifully and the actors are simply great.
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