The Rest of the Night (Il resto della notte)

After his first film (Saimir), filmmaker Francesco Munzi once again turns his gaze to an increasingly changing, multicultural Italy in this film made up of three intersecting stories.

In the wealthy industrialized northeast where tensions and prejudices seem the most rampant, Silvana Bourin (Sandra Ceccarelli), the depressed wife of a provincial industrialist, persuades herself that Maria (Laura Vasiliu, from 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days), their young Romanian maid, is stealing valuable objects from them. With no proof and against her husband’s wishes, Silvana fires Maria.

Maria finds shelter with her former boyfriend, Ionut (Constantin Lupescu) and the spark is soon rekindled. The young man has just been released from prison and now shares a hovel with his younger teenaged brother who is not happy to see her back in his brother’s life. Ionut meanwhile has found an accomplice in Marco, an angry drug addict who has lost custody of his son and the two plot a robbery at the industrialist’s villa.

Munzi interweaves the lives of people from different classes with their different prejudices and fears. He plays with the image of an immigrant community, gradually uncovering the roots of the stereotype, while his exploration of the northern Italian nouveau riche reveals their isolation, emptiness and hypocrisy.  Without moralizing or passing judgment Munzi offers a powerful portrait of contemporary Italy. (Souce: Italian Film Festival)

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