"I'm fascinated by the misunderstanding surrounding the so-called archetype of the Neapolitan mother," says the director RAI Cinema International Distribution has acquired world rights to Italian director Edoardo De Angelis‘ dark tragicomedy “The Fire Within You” ahead of its Venice competition launch. De Angelis, a native Neapolitan, broke out on the festival circuit at Venice in 2016 with the Naples-set conjoined twins drama “Indivisible” and subsequently opened the festival in 2023 with anti-war epic “Comandante.” He also directed Netflix’s Elena Ferrante adaptation “The Lying Life of Adults” that year. He will now be back on the Lido vying for the Golden Lion with this more intimate piece, which revolves around the impact a toxic Neapolitan mother has on her progeny.
The film is based on the prizewinning autobiographical book “Il fuoco che ti porti dentro” by Italian author and editor Antonio Franchini. Now she has arrived for Christmas and seems determined to stay. What begins as a Christmas Eve dinner soon turns into an emotional battlefield, at once comic and merciless, bringing years of misunderstandings, resentment and old wounds to the surface.” The synopsis continues: “A fierce emotional confrontation unfolds between mother and son, but also with a stubborn capon that refuses to end up in the cooking pot; with the anticipation of a daughter who may never arrive; and with a guest as distinguished as he is unexpected.
This reckoning between mother and son will forever change the meaning of their relationship. It is a love that burns like an unquenchable fire — one that no distance and no separation can ever extinguish.” “The Fire Within You” is produced by Picomedia, an Asacha Media Group Company that is part of Fremantle, with RAI Cinema. Watch an exclusive first clip from the film above.
Below, De Angelis speask to Variety about “The Fire Within You” ahead of the film’s Venice bow. The author of the book, Antonio Franchini, is actually a very important editor in Italy. He was following me on the publication of the novel “Comandante,” connected to my film.
We had dinner in Naples, and Antonio told me about a book he was writing about his mother. I was immediately fascinated because I found so many similarities with my grandmother and with many women I’ve met in my life. Women who are strong, charismatic, incendiary.
He even told me the title and I thought it was very fitting to express the feeling they elicit. Then I read it when it came out and I loved it. But it didn’t cross my mind that it could be made into a film.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
