Director Jacek Borcuch creates a drama that is just as much about family relationships as it is about politics and consequences. Borcuch echoes the adversarial nature of the current cultural climate by contemplating the power of words and the value assigned to artists in society.
Maria Linde (Krystyna Janda) is a free-spirited, Nobel Prize-winning poet living in a seemingly idyllic villa with her husband (Antonio Catania), daughter and two grandchildren in the Tuscan town of Volterra. They enjoy all their surroundings have to offer: fresh food, great wine and dinner parties with their intellectual friends. Privately (or perhaps not so privately), Maria also enjoys the company of a local tavern owner, a handsome and much younger Egyptian man named Nazeer (Lorenzo de Moor).
It is not long before the cracks in the veneer become apparent; the air in the walled city is tinged with suspicion of any kind of otherness. A breaking point is finally reached when Rome is hit by a deadly terrorist attack. In its aftermath, Maria’s life and the lives of the people she touches are upended: during a ceremony in her honour, she delivers a speech that sends shockwaves through her community and the world, straining her relationships with her family and her lover.
Dolce Fine Giornata sits at the intersection of art and politics, freedom of speech and moral consequence, public and personal life. Its final scene will inspire a discussion that will likely go unresolved.
“Borcuch’s film asks the right questions about the dangerously escalating xenophobia and leaves a lasting impression with it final metaphoric shot.” (Tomris Laffly, RogerEbert.com)
“A Nobel-winning poet recklessly inserts herself into immigration and terrorism debates in Jacek Borcuch’s satisfyingly complex drama.” (Dennis Harvey, Variety)