Emma Marrone The return, Stefano Chiantini: interview

The return of Stefano Chiantini with Emma Marrone as the protagonist, premiered at Alice nella Città, parallel section of the Rome Film Fest. VelvetMAG, present at the Capitoline event – which is in its seventeenth edition – met the cast of the film and interviewed the director Chiantini.

Emma Marrone relives the film set after The Most Beautiful Years of Gabriele Muccino and the series A casa tutti bene. The singer is the absolute protagonist of The Return, a film directed by director Stefano Chiantini and premiered at Alice nella Città, a parallel reality at the Rome Film Fest. Everything revolves around the character embodied by Emma, ​​​​who holds the film with a deep intensity by playing a role that sees her as a mother and who after 10 years in prison tries to reconnect with her son and her husband. Le Retour is a film that travels through the darkest silences of a torn life. Emma embodies the reflection of a society that exists, and which often germinates in the most remote corners of a city. She is a woman looking for a second chance, but struggling to find it.

Credits: Teresa Comberiati / Press service

The return, Emma Marrone in a press conference: “I put myself to the test”

“When I read the script, I was blown away. I understood that it was going to be a physically and humanly complicated film. I put myself to the test – said the singer during the press conference held in the spaces of Alice nella Città – descending into hell, in the pain, apathy and silences of this woman Teresa is forbidden to have a second chance as happens to many women and men who succumb to this not very inclusive society.” Emma to play Teresa stripped herself of herself, sinking as much as possible into the shadow of a woman “rejected” by the same life.

Photo credits: Teresa Comberiati

She cut her hair. She never broke with character until the set lights finally went out on Return. For six weeks, the singer walked with Teresa, ate and dressed like her. “I had them cut for the role – he said – in Sanremo, I had to bring a song not my image. You have to stop thinking that the image must be above art, when you decides to make a movie or write a song you have to put yourself one hundred percent in the game”.

Stefano Chiantini exclusively for VelvetMAG

Teresa is a struggling woman. To fight for herself, for her son. Fight trash bags as if they were the bags of a ring. We reached out to Stefano Chiantini – director of The Return – to reflect on the importance of always fighting – regardless of victory or not – if it’s worth it. “I think the fight is fundamental, not because you have to win it, but because it is a way to move forward. I am a person who has always had to fight and I have often done it to achieve other thing. I think it’s also an approach to feeling alive. Emma’s character has other needs. We’re talking about a struggle that leads to another downfall: everything Teresa does always ends up being something that makes it sink a little lower. I like – adds the director – that this film is called The Return, because it contrasts with what happens next. The fight is therefore the theme of the film.

Photo credits: Teresa Comberiati

Emma was chosen to play Teresa, a role with dark undertones and suffering that emerges between the lines of her expression. What characteristic meant that she could still take on the role of protagonist?

I liked the idea of ​​making a film with little inclination to mass, to commerce and to have a pop character as the protagonist. Mediatically strong and known. A beautiful contrast! But above all to strip her of this image which is hers. That was the bet we made with Emma.

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Taking the screenplay into your own hands, what was the most fascinating aspect that you highlighted the most?

I really liked to write about this woman by the physical, the movement, the repetition of things without dialogue. It’s something I worked on right away.

What would you like the viewer to take home after seeing your film?

I don’t quite know, because I realize that I made a film deliberately feeling that it was coming like a punch in the stomach. In a way, it’s also frustrating. Bumper in some ways. I think every viewer will see the film and have different emotions. I also like the idea of ​​being able to make people understand that an apparently more detached, more difficult type of cinema can also be told, and that this too can affect everyone. I would like this: for a film to still be made in the spirit of cinema and for people to be able to love cinema.