22/04/2022 - Daniel Kemény’s second feature film opens a window onto the private life of a couple who are forced by the pandemic into a shared daily existence which grows increasingly suffocating and alienating

After presenting his first feature film sòne [+see also:
trailer
film profile] here in 2020, the artist and director of Italian origin Daniel Kemény is making his return to the Visions du Réel Festival (within the National Competition) in order to offer up Supertempo, a brave and entertaining yet terrifying portrayal of his relationship with Laura as they both come to terms with the limitations of lockdown. It’s a film made “with Covid” rather than being about it (as specified by the director) which raises universal questions about personal freedom, the systematic depiction of heterosexual and monogamous couples as reference models, and jealousy as a universal sentiment which clashes with the idea of a rational, modern couple.

Used to juggling personal aspirations with together-time in a healthy toing and froing of cohabitation and distance, Daniel and Laura suddenly find themselves having to share almost everything. Supertempo depicts their day-to-day life, punctuated by much needed rituals. An anatomy of a couple wrestling with a situation bordering on unreal, Supertempo urges us to think about our own relationships and our need to share but also for freedom. Through this extreme experience, the very concept of the couple seems to lose all meaning, while its socially constructed and overly stereotyped side becomes increasingly overbearing.

Educated, socially active, politically engaged and open-minded, Daniel and Laura are disconcertingly sincere as they reveal their daily battle against insistent conformism, a battle characterised by pangs of jealousy, “tête à tête” lunches, and a forced sharing of space which feels increasingly claustrophobic.

Shot almost entirely within Laura’s apartment (and the adjoining garden) where the two of them seek refuge during lockdown, the film slowly broadens its focus - though only in glimmer-like flashes - to encompass the city of Rome around them. A deserted, beleaguered city which regains its breath-taking splendour without its inhabitants. Whilst Laura’s little apartment becomes increasingly oppressive, too small to accommodate two strong and independent personalities, the city of Rome rejoices in an unexpected, rejuvenating freedom.

More than one film has tried to capture the torments of a pandemic which is still too recent to pick apart with any real perspective, but Supertempo stands out for the surprising lightness and honesty it exudes. Here, Covid becomes a “pretext” for dissecting a heterosexual love story hampered by suffocating models which are anything but fit for purpose.

The sincerity with which Supertempo’s two protagonists turn themselves into objects of research and sacrifice themselves in the name of necessary progress (in terms of feelings and predefined gender roles) is nothing short of astonishing. It’s a risky but necessary undertaking in order to get people thinking about the concept of the couple and, potentially, to save it from extinction.

Supertempo is produced and sold worldwide by Cinedokké sagl (Switzerland).

(Translated from Italian)