Pure Hearts is a film with a very simple script: a love story in present-day Italy, where middle class and popular class mingle. A very refined scenario that leaves room for the right staging, without emphasis; something very rare for a first realization.
A strong inspiration from the Dardenne brothers' cinema
The Dardenne concept is noticeable in the "social" aspect of the film. Agnese, just of age, is suffocated by her mother, a religious and practicing woman. Raised in a religious universe with a priest very present, the question of the vow of chastity grows in their relationship, but also with his friends wearing chastity rings. When Agnese meets Stefano, in his twenties, a delinquent in professional reintegration, the contradictions between her actions and her choices lead to fundamental questions. The passage of Agnese in her adult life brings the problem of letting go mother / daughter; religion; not to mention some allusions to migrants and racism in deep Italy.
Apart from the very simple scenario (almost a TV movie script whose context is similar to that of the Dardenne brothers), the staging with the camera sometimes very moving on close-ups accentuates the effect "French social film".
If this film can be included in a not very shimmering box reserved for a tight prism of pompous intellectuals, it is nevertheless very interesting in its treatment of the image. The origins of Roberto De Paolis, former videographer and photographer, are strongly felt. The image, although sometimes suffocating in this multitude of close-ups with a constantly moving camera, sucks us in. The opening and closing are simply two close-ups of the faces of the two main characters. At the opening of the film, Agnese and Stefano chase each other, for almost a minute we see only these two figures. The montage immediately tells us who is pursuing whom. It's all there. The whole story of the film can be synthesized in these two very well thought out shots. This ability to capture the essential and rewrite it during editing is a beautiful lesson in directing.
Outstanding direction of actors
The characters caught in their contradictions are embodied in a very fair way. Selene Caramazza (Agnese) and Simone Liberati (Stefano) form a very complementary duo where the couple's tensions do not melt into a television melodrama. Each action, or reaction of the two actors is very simple, very direct, goes straight to the point, in the same perspective as the shooting. Selene takes us into her problems that are also ours. Identification is almost immediate. The absence of makeup, the intended naturalness, takes us into a real world: no cliché, no sensational, just a simplicity embraced by the two actors.
The character of the mother played by Barbora Bobulova opposite the two young "pure hearts" is more muted. This treatment highlights some of these acts that could alter the film, as they are so exaggerated. Marta comes to hit her own daughter who disobeyed her, a somewhat strange color of the character that remains believable thanks to the performance of the actress. The actors thus perfectly carry a scenario whose cinematographic dimension can be discussed. In their accuracy these three faces with singular depths remind us of the importance of casting.
Cœurs Purs, selected at the "Directors' Fortnight" in Cannes, invites us to rethink the magic of editing and the work on simplicity changes from the refined sensational that assails our screens.
