First Love

In Primo amore, Garrone highlights the dramatic twist his career took in L'imbalsamatore, and he creates a sort of binary system with said film. In this film pair the director embarks in a process of abandoning the naturalist costumbrismo that defined, for example, his Estate romana or his documentaries, and searches for a more traditional story arc. In this case he tells the story of Sonia, a lonely girl to whom love brings unexpected consequences. A portrait with feminist roots and somehow ahead of its time in depicting the patriarchal domination and the way it manipulates the female body. Primo amore took part in the 2004 Berlinale, where it won the Golden Bear to the best original soundtrack. (Gijón International Film Festival)