Le chiavi di casa (2004)

Gianni Amelio’s Le chiavi di casa (2004) is a touching, poignant story about a man meeting his (now teenaged) handicapped son for the first time. This Italian film, as its core sensibility, is quiet. Scenes that had this been a large Hollywood production would be muddled with musical cues to manipulate us, telling us how to feel, are instead quiet moments that actually allow us to feel. Lead Gianni (Kim Rossi Stuart) gives a performance with depth, we see him attempting to keep composure, grappling with the mental task of dealing with this newfound development, as well as the physical side of caring for a handicapped child. Andrea Rossi, as Paolo the developmentally challenged boy, is a sight to behold. He imbues his scenes with a naturalness that makes it hinder on documentary-like unaffectedness. In terms of it being a quiet movie, one example harkens to mind, when Nicole (Charlotte Rampling), a mother herself of a handicapped daughter, admits to Gianni she sometimes secretly wishes her daughter would die. Sitting with Nicole on a bench in a train station, Gianni says nothing, and what could he say that’d be anymore effective than the silence they, and we as an audience, share?