The Keys To The House (Le Chiavi di casa, 2004)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: B
Writer/Director Gianni Amelio takes another shot at
telling the story of males within a family.
Instead of brothers, he is taking on the father/son story and foregoing
the influence of Italian cinema of the past as he had with The Way We
Laughed (1998, reviewed elsewhere on this site) and stay more contemporary
with The Keys To The House. This
is first film since that one, six years later, and he comes up with a better
film this time.
Here, an older man (Kim Rossi Stuart) decides that he
needs to confront the most disturbing turning point in his past. He abandoned his newborn son as soon as the
labor that delivered him was a catastrophe, but the son survived. Now 15 years old, Paolo (Andrea Rossi) has
been in institutions all his life, suffering from a combination of mental and
physically disabilities in the process.
What could have been a soaper, formula film with illicit appeals to
pity, phony senses of warmth and melodrama from hell turns out to be a
surprisingly pleasant, smart, film that always rings true.
Can the father find closure, rediscover who his son is and
face his past? The film is not that
simple, fortunately, though that does need to be addressed. Amelio’s screenplay takes the long road and
really examines the situation with heart and depth. Instead of being reactionary and trying to make the father a villain,
or trying to make his holier than thou and beyond belief like many bad Hollywood
films sickeningly love to do, it deals with a man who is human and flawed. It is highly non-judgmental and
naturalistic, as it deals with all of its characters in a three-dimensional
way. The way they try to connect
throughout is fascinating and the film takes its time to let things unfold.
If that was not good enough, and it is, there is a
terrific supporting performance by the great Charlotte Rampling adds another
level of dynamic to the film as the woman who has been helping Paolo for years
and has been in there for the long haul.
She understands the tragedy and subtly happy the father has returned and
knows by instinct that he is there for all the right reasons. He is a good guy, not a mean one. He is not the kind of ignorant con artist
idiot who thinks “being a man” is an excuse to neglect your children for years
and you can come back anytime you want and things should go the way you will
it. That is why The Keys To The
House is such a fine film. It
overcome so many clichés and lies in advance, that the film gets to take off
immediately and never quits. We may
have seen a few of the things before we see here, but it is never a
distraction. Amelio deserves applause
for what he accomplishes here.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is a bit of a
disappointment, with more softness than one would have liked. Cinematographer Luca Bigazzi is back shooting Amelio’s film
and gets plenty of fine shots, but this DVD just does not deliver like the 2.35
X 1 New Yorker edition of The Way We Laughed despite using less picture
area. Unfortunately like that DVD, this
film was also released in Dolby SR, but the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on this
disc also has a strange lack of Pro Logic surround information. Yet again, the SR’s quality at least comes
through in its clarity. It should be
said that Franco Piersanti is also back, delivering another score that works
very well. This is a composer who
deserves more attention. Sadly, except
for a few other Lion’s Gate trailers of interest, there are no extras. This film deserves them, but catch it just
the same. You will not be disappointed.
- Nicholas Sheffo
