“Saturn in Opposition”

Loss, Despair and Recovery

Amos Lassen

Ferzan Ozpetek who gave us “Steam” now deals with a powerful story of loss, despair and recovery from hopelessness during the times of great turmoil in “Saturn in Opposition”.

Davide, a writer, and Lorenzo are in a very loving relationship. They have a beautiful home and wonderful friends. One day while hosting a dinner party, Lorenzo faints and is rushed to the hospital where he has a brain hemorrhage and dies. As Davide is faced with the loss of his partner, his friends’ lives begin to fall apart. Angela discovers that her husband Antonio is having an affair and she is left with two children. Roberto who is addicted to drugs struggles to be accepted. Davide’s former lover, Sergio, tries to maintain a relationship with his domineering wife, Neval. Lorenzo’s parents have come to terms with their son’s sexuality. In other words there is a lot going on but it is interesting to watch as everyone puts aside their personal dramas and help Davide deal with his grief.

When we meet the group of characters they are all busy with usual things–love and deceit, honesty and compassion and they are self-effacing, timid, courageous and blatant. There is no conflict to speak of and the nature of death appears to be the underlying theme of the film. Family, we learn, is not always what you are born into but it is what you for among friends and lovers and as members of a family tears are shed, lessons are learned and compassion is shown.

Ozpotek introduces us to an unorthodox group that is regarded as family by its members. When they are faced with the fact that Lorenzo is gone forever, they realize that death is indeed permanent and there are no miracles in life.

The cast is uniformly excellent and Ozpetek’s direction is subdued and fine. He shows that homosexuals are not aliens from another world but people just like everyone else and suffer the same as others. The script is outstanding and the characters are well developed. This is a beautiful film that can be enjoyed over and over again. It is fine ensemble acting and a set of character studies as well as a romanticized about a group of people that we usually do not see on film–people experiencing complex emotional states that they do not know how to deal with but not worrying about them. The cinematography is gorgeous and the shots of Rome are breathtaking.

I’m quickly coming to the conclusion that Ferzan Özpetek is the most gifted filmmaker in the world today, and Saturn in Opposition is his best film so far. I’ve watched it at least a dozen times, and it still reveals some new delight to me each time. It’s a treasure, a work of such astonishing beauty on so many levels, so deeply satisfying and so thoroughly entertaining, that I’m reluctant to write about it for fear I won’t do it justice.

I can’t think of any way anything about this movie could be improved. It has raised the bar so high I can’t see past it. The brilliant screenplay, the flawless performance by every person in the cast, the breathtaking cinematography that caresses everything the camera sees, the music that never intrudes but always enriches and deepens the story, the surprising flashes of wry humor in what is a very serious and touching work, the marvelous way Lorenzo’s inner monologue wraps itself lovingly around the whole film–just the way this movie FEELS, the indescribable way it makes ME feel when I’m watching it, or just remembering it–everything about Saturn in Opposition is simply perfect.

The only movies I can even compare it to are others by Özpetec himself: His Secret Life, Facing Windows, and Sacred Heart. Each of those movies is a treasure in itself, better than anything else out there, but while each one of them shares many of Saturn in Opposition’s remarkable achievements, none of them quite reaches its level of perfection. Every scene, every frame, every sound, every second of its 105 minutes is just The Best. The best it could be, and the best there is, anywhere.

I know I’ve been gushing, I know I’ve violated another reviewer’s injunction against “aggrandizing” this movie, but I’m only telling the truth about my experience of it as clearly and as honestly as I can. If anybody else likes it a fraction as much as I do, I’ll celebrate that with them. If not, I can’t help but love it anyway.

Let’s not aggrandize this film; there is not a lot of substance going on here. A sad and youthful death, yes (why do all the pretty ones have to go first?)—-and grieving and loss. But there’s little to create an emotional attachment to these characters……even prior to the death.

This production is NOT a “Steam: The Turkish Bath” in that regard, or even an “His Secret Life,” both of which got us more “involved.” To this viewer, the most interesting point was before film’s end, in the denoument between widower, Davide, and a come-to-acceptance and grieving, deceased’s father.

At film’s conclusion, there is a tying-up……..a coming to terms. I wonder, though, is real life ever as smooth as pictured?

PS–Points for beautiful, beautiful photography work (are this man’s films ever not?)

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