14/10/2006

From the RomeFilmFest comes a parable on the thirst for power, that disease with which we all must make amends, a temptation from which it is difficult to escape. But not impossible.

Master Georgian filmmaker Otar Iosseliani returns – after Monday Morning, the Golden Bear winner at the 2002 Berlinale – with a fable whose roots are well planted in the slippery slope of reality. The main character of Gardens in Autumn [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Jardins en automne) – in competition at the festival – is a government minister who begins to live only at the moment he is "dethroned" of his power.

"I really like it when a king becomes a vagabond", explained Iosseliani, "it’s an ancient paradox. A long time ago, many powerful people would disguise themselves to observe the people from close up. I don’t think Berlusconi will ever decide to work as a gardener, but we can fantasise about this, if I were him I’d do it. We common mortals observe people who have this disease of power, we watch them govern the entire world, sure of where they are going, that is, towards catastrophe. My character is a man afflicted by this disease of omnipotence, who discovers how pleasant it can be to step down from the pedestal and be accepted by everyone".

Michel Piccoli, who calls himself an anti-cliché actors par excellence, is unrecognisable in a unique female role: "I’ve always to disappear, to become the character created by the director", he said, amused.

The film, which was released in France in September, will be distributed in Italy on October 20 by Mikado.

(Translated from Italian)