screenplay Antonio Capuano

cinematography Tommaso Borgstrom

editing Giogiò Franchini

music Pasquale Catalano

sound Emanuele Cecere

art direction Maica Rotondo

costumes Francesca Balzano

cast Irene De Angelis (Irene), Gabriele Agrio (Ciro), Luisa Ranieri (madre di Irene), Corso Salani (padre di Irene), Valeria Golino (psicologa del carcere), Anna Ammirati (analista di Irene), Fabrizio Gifuni (psicoterapeuta)

producer Gianni Minervini

production L.G.M. Ellegiemme S.r.l.
in collaboration with Rai Cinema

world sales Rai Trade
Via Umberto Novaro, 18, 00195 Roma, Italia
Tel: +39 06 374981
Fax: +39 06 3723492
cinema@raitrade.it
www.raitrade.it

distribuzione/distribution Fandango
viale Gorizia, 19, 00198 Roma, Italia
Tel. +39 06852185
Fax +39 0685218120
fandango@fandango.it
www.fandango.it

synopsis
At the end of a Sunday of sun, sea and frolicking, four boys rape Irene, also an adolescent. The following morning, one of them, Ciro, turns himself and the others in. They are sentenced to two years in prison. These two contrasting worlds will be drawn to one another and even, perhaps, meet and come together. “I chose Irene pretty quickly. Not Ciro. I spent many nights thinking, rethinking and watching the last auditions over and over again. I decided three days before shooting began. They met only once on set. And ignored one another.” (Antonio Capuano)

The aftermath and consequences of a brutal rape are depicted in a meditative, reflective and uncensorious way, in this darkly optimistic movie. A young boy imprisoned for his crime; a young woman also imprisoned by the psychological and physical assault on her – their stories re-entwining as he finds release in letter writing to her. Stylistically, the film portrays the grim reality of penal life on a island off Naples, whilst also simultaneously showing the evocative beauty of the contradictory city. Capuano avoids cheap moralising or trite redemption but still gives his characters humanity and hope. (Adrian Wootton)