THE MOUNTAIN BRIDE- VERMIGLIO

Watch The Trailer

Storyline (warning: spoilers)

The year is 1944. But the remote Italian Alpine village of Vermiglio is a place of timeless rhythms and rituals, unchanged for centuries. There’s a precarious poetry to life in this ice-bound little community: the clear, widescreen drama of the backdrop is a contrast to the darker reality of a brutally high infant mortality rate and perpetual gnawing hunger.
It’s a world away from the war consuming the rest of Europe. But then the ragged edges of combat finally reach the mountain: two deserters – Attilio (Santiago Fondevila), a son of the village, and Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico), a stranger from Sicily – take shelter within the community. Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), the oldest daughter of the stern village teacher, is drawn to the stranger, and a tentative romance blossoms into marriage. But their union sets in motion a string of devastating consequences.
The second feature from Italian director Maura Delpero, Vermiglio is exquisite. There’s a rough, earthy tenderness to the picture and a kinship with other recent examples of Italian folk cinema (including Alice Rohrwacher’s work, LFS Term 2, 2024 & Term 3, 2019). Delpero opts for an unvarnished realism rather than the pagan abandon of some of Rohrwacher’s cinema, but her film shares the sense of exploring a richly realised, self-contained microcosm.
An unprecedented scandal shakes the community midway through the story. It has a seismic impact on the villagers; it also shifts the film-making approach. From the intimate restraint of the early scenes, Delpero’s direction becomes more fractured and abrasive. It’s a remarkable work.