Venice Days screening - short review - CON IL FIATO SOSPESO by Costanza Quatriglio

The story of Stella, a girls who studies medicine at university, who is entered in a research group to write up her theses. However, she slowly realises that something is wrong; the work environment is unhealthy, the conditions are dangerous and she becomes ill along with the others in her group. The story is inspired by the true story of a student from the University of Catania called Emanuele, who suffered a similar situation and died for lung cancer. Hence, the film employs a unique brand of docufiction, which doesn’t simply aim to tell a particular story but allows itself to be inspired by a true event in favour of being seen under a more universal light. Quatrilgio adds many different elements to the mix which makes it more intriguing and appealing, most notably the use of two narrators, one a masculine voice and another a feminine voice, as well as a charming and magnetic side character – the indie punk rocker Anna. Occasionally, the pace and urgency falters and perhaps lacks a true hypnotic feel that it seems to want to achieve. However, Con il Fiato Sospeso can truly be praised for its use of cinematography which is particularly quite unsettling in its use of extreme close ups that adds to a feeling of being lost, helpless and overall clueless, in this case, of the dangers of all the toxic waste and unsafe environment around them.