Italian director Ferzan Özpetek brings us Diamonds (Diamanti), a heartwarming celebration of women in a film that is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.
The film starts off with a “breaking of the fourth wall” situation.
Özpetek calls upon 18 of his favourite actresses to his Roman villa for a casual lunch. While enjoying wine and pasta, the gathering evolves into a script reading of the female-centric film – a “vaginodrome” as actress Geppi Cucciari so aptly describes it.
Set in the 1970s, said “vaginodrome”, Diamanti, follows the lives of the Canova sisters and their employees in a prestigious dressmaker’s shop making costumes for film and theatre in Italy.
In fact, Alberta Canova (Luisa Ranieri) was famed to have worked with Cristobal Balenciaga. The rest of her team is made up of a motley crew of female characters, each bearing their own burdens.
This includes the vulnerable Gabriella Canova (Jasmine Trinca), Alberta’s sister who is still grieving the loss of her very young daughter. Then there’s Nicoletta (Milena Mancini), who is trying to deal with a very violent, very serious DV situation.
But amidst it all, there’s the lovely Silvana (Mara Venier), the cook and “everyone’s” mom. She also comes with a penchant for making enough food to feed armies.
While the men are integral to the story in some instances, they are not intended to be the focus of the movie. For example, there’s Vinicio Marchioni’s Bruno, Nicoletta’s violent and ill-tempered husband who threatens her life if things don’t go his way. Similarly, there’s Alberta’s long lost love Leonardo played by Carmine Recano who left her waiting at a train station in Paris.
As critical as these side plots are to the story, we are instead drawn to the stories of these strong women, who, like diamonds, are not easy to break.
What shines the brightest in this movie is the relationships these women have with each other – even when they seemingly don’t even get along.
Case in point is the two “feuding” actresses Alida Borghese (Carla Signoris) and Sofia Volpi (Kasia Smutniak). They are carefully scheduled never to meet during dress fittings to avoid a diva showdown. When they eventually do, they display a grudging mutual respect for each other.
Diamanti does not shy from evoking big emotions, accompanied by a backdrop of stunning theatre/film costumes and 70s clothing that made my fashion-obsessed self incredibly satisfied.
With tissues at the ready, prepare to belly laugh and cry, while you gawk at the beautiful clothes on screen.
Diamanti’s big take home message reads loud and clear: “We are nothing but we are everything.”
Perhaps by oneself, one might not make a huge impact, but together, we can achieve greatness.
Diamonds is part of The 2025 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival, which runs 25th September – 22nd October.