Vermiglio

The second world war is entering its end game, but in the Alpine village of Vermiglio the conflict is mostly felt in the absence of young men. When a taciturn Sicilian soldier named Pietro shows up, having carried the wounded Attilio all the way back home, he is treated as a hero, fed, feted and furnished with the best the village can offer. He’s in no hurry to get back to the front, and as winter turns to spring Lucia and Pietro fall in love…

Maura Delperro’s exquisitely photographed movie — Italy’s submission for the Academy Awards Best International Film — turns the screen into a canvas, delivering a succession of breathtakingly beautiful images. But this pictorialism is backed up with a remarkably authentic recreation of what it must have been like growing up in this time and place — especially for the young daughters of the local schoolteacher Caesar (Tommaso Ragno), of whom Lucia is one. Gradually the film’s romantic air stiffens into something tougher and critical; a village can be a refuge, but also a trap.

Remarkable, raw-boned and ravishing… every aspect of the filmmaking, from Krichman’s immaculate compositions, to the worn, neat costuming from Andrea Cavalletto to the simplicity of Matteo Franceschini’s spartan piano-based score, speaks to the restraint that Delpero exercises in playing on our feelings. Not because she herself does not feel, but because, like her stoic characters, she is holding herself in check with an almost brutal degree of self-discipline.

Jessica Kiang, Variety

A richly compassionate, emotional and detailed drama of family secrets in the wartime Italian countryside.

Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

A marvel of period filmmaking.

Damon Wise, Deadline Hollywood