Baracca e burattini

Elle is a committed actress and equally committed to psychotropic substances. Behind her lies a family history stretching from the Second World War to the present day. From her grandfather Ermes onwards, there has been only one destiny: one that breaks, consumes and shatters. No one really knows how to stay (metaphorically or otherwise) where they are, and in fact, the expression “fare baracca e burattini” (to make a mess of things) recurs from generation to generation. No one knows how to hold on to the people they love or what they have built. This is especially true of Elle’s father, Ranieri, who, as a doctor, believes he can relieve terminal patients of their pain and end their lives, and finds himself at the centre of a media campaign that, over time, debases him (‘the doctor who wanted to play God’) and exposes him to dangerous relationships. The only place that episodically draws the three generations together is the Blue House, a hut near the sea that, over time, has become a refuge, a studio, a residence. The Blue House is surrounded by the family’s unspoken secrets and darkness, and it is there that, with difficulty but also with determination, the aftermath of violence, abandonment and rebirth that Elle is still suffering is brought to light.