Review: Gym Class
- Scripted by the D’Innocenzo brothers, Stefano Cipani’s second film respects unity of place and time and is buoyed by its dialogue and acting performances, yet its tone remains unclear
If your son were to commit a crime, what would you do? Would you hand him in or protect him? The Dinner [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Ivano De Matteo
film profile] by Ivano De Matteo, which screened in Venice in 2014, asked audiences this very troubling question, revealing the dark side of two seemingly well-to-do families when faced with the terrible act carried out by their teenage children. This same question returns in Gym Class [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the new film by Stefano Cipani (My Brother Chases Dinosaurs [+see also:
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making of
interview: Stefano Cipani
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Based on Giorgio Scianna’s stage play “La palestra” and scripted by the D’Innocenzo brothers (Bad Tales [+see also:
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interview: Fabio and Damiano D’Innocenzo
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film profile]), Gym Class touches upon sensitive, topical themes such as guilt, responsibility, and the education we give our children, especially in this social media era. The story involves four parents of three secondary school students: Franco, Carmen, and husband and wife Aldo and Rossella (played respectively by Claudio Santamaria, Raffaella Rea, Sergio Rubini and Angela Finocchiaro). The headteacher (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) has called them into the school gym to tell them about a nasty episode which has unfolded, and which involves their children.
To begin with, our four protagonists aren’t sure why they’ve been gathered here in this gym with its rusty exercise equipment and its walls covered in graffiti (the set was built from scratch in the Cinecittà studios). Their time spent waiting for the headteacher is a perfect opportunity to introduce the film’s characters: Franco is a wealthy and condescending entrepreneur, Carmen is a divorced mother (who’s involved in a secret relationship with Franco, who’s married), and Aldo and Rossella are a modest couple who are a bit long in the tooth and are parents to an adopted son.
When the headteacher arrives, they’re given terrible news: several days earlier, a girl was raped in the very same gym after a PE lesson, and the names which have since emerged as responsible for that wicked act are those of three thirteen-year-olds, Christian, Giordano and Arsen, their sons. “But that’s impossible, they’re still children!”, is their parents’ initial incredulous reaction, who tell themselves anything in order to support the fact (and convince themselves) that it’s all a terrible mistake. But, sadly, this isn’t the case; there’s proof to the contrary and in this smartphone era the evidence comes in video form, shot by one of the boys themselves as they took turns taking advantage of their schoolmate.
Faced with the evidence, the worst of these people begins to emerge. “She asked for it”, the parents imply as they close ranks and slander the young victim. But the headteacher is adamant: the crime must be reported to the police. And as they’re holed up inside that gym while their unsuspecting guilty children play outside (we can see them through a broken window), the situation becomes increasingly tense, before eventually exploding. Capable of the kind of compromise which goes beyond all ethics, just to avoid teaching their own children a lesson or instilling a sense of right and wrong, it’s first and foremost their own skin that the four protagonists look to protect. A film rooted in the theatre, shot in sequence following the story’s crescendo of emotions and involving considerable acting prowess, the story leaves viewers with multiple questions, yet its tone remains somewhat uncertain, lost between drama, social satire and dark comedy.
Gym Class is produced by Paco Cinematografica and RAI Cinema in co-production with Poland’s Agresywna Banda.
(Translated from Italian)
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