Watch Arianna

Arianna is a 2015 Italian film directed by Carlo Lavagna, which tells the story of a 19-year-old woman who returns to her family's idyllic countryside villa in Tuscany after years of absence. As she attempts to piece together her fragmented childhood memories, Arianna realizes that she has never truly known who she is, nor where she belongs.

The film opens with a series of slow, haunting aerial shots of the Tuscan landscape, set against an eerie, ethereal score. We are introduced to Arianna, a young woman with androgynous features, who is returning to her family's villa after many years of living in the city. We soon learn that Arianna was born with ambiguous genitalia, and underwent surgery as a child to "fix" her intersex condition.

As Arianna reconnects with her parents and her younger sister, she begins to experience vivid flashbacks of her childhood, which are gradually revealed to the audience through a series of dreamlike sequences. We see Arianna being subjected to medical examinations, and struggling to fit in with her peers at school. We see her growing increasingly curious about her body, and eventually discovering that she was born with both male and female genitalia.

As Arianna slowly pieces together the fragments of her past, she begins to question the decisions that were made on her behalf, and wonders if she was ever truly given a choice about her own body. She confronts her parents about the surgery that was performed on her as a child, and demands answers about her past.

The film is beautifully shot, with stunning cinematography that captures both the beauty and the darkness of the Tuscan landscape. The score is haunting and ethereal, creating a dreamlike atmosphere that perfectly captures Arianna's sense of disorientation and confusion.

The acting is superb, particularly from lead actress Ondina Quadri, who gives a raw and emotional performance as Arianna. She perfectly captures the character's sense of isolation and inner turmoil, and brings a sense of vulnerability and humanity to a character that could have easily been reduced to a medical condition.

The ing cast is also impressive, particularly Massimo Popolizio and Valentina Carnelutti as Arianna's parents. They bring a sense of complexity and nuance to their roles, and effectively convey the conflicting emotions of love, guilt, and regret that they feel towards their daughter.

Overall, Arianna is a powerful and thought-provoking film that explores complex themes of identity, sexuality, and the right to self-determination. It is a deeply emotional and poignant film that will stay with you long after the credits roll.

Arianna is a 2017 drama with a runtime of 1 hour and 24 minutes. It has received moderate reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 6.2.