Venice 2022: Monica
VENICE 2022One of the best quotes that any filmmaker ever said comes from Michelangelo Antonioni: “A film you can explain in words is not a real film”. Whilst divisive for many critics and moviegoers, Monica by Andrea Pallaoro is so far one of the most impressive, moving, and standout films of the 2022 Venice Film Festival, for one simple reason: it is a real film.
Silence is key in Pallaoro’s movie. Every small gesture, every glance, every unspoken word says so much about the characters of the film. At the center of it there is the title character, played by trans performer Trace Lysette. Who she is, what she does, and what happened in her past is slowly revealed, a rewarding puzzle for acute viewers. Patience is required to fully appreciate Monica, where a woman goes back to her childhood home to care for her dying mother. The scarce dialogue, the claustrophobic 1.2:1 aspect ratio, and occasional explosions of music (the use of Jarvis Cocker’s Common People is the best needle drop of the year) show great control of the cinematic artform by Pallaoro, verging on slow cinema yet always managing to be far more engaging than one would expect.
Stories about families coming together in a time of crisis are nothing new in cinema, but Monica comes very much at the right time. When so many films about LGBTQ+ identity verge on the pandering and banal, with familial struggles that are predictable and trite, it is deeply refreshing to watch something that treats its characters with the love and respect they deserve. Lysette is absolutely stunning in here, a fearless performance full of empathy for a complex character: a trans woman so used to living alone, that she almost forgot what it feels like to find a connection with others. Patricia Clarkson plays her mother, and the scenes between the two of them are heartbreaking and hopeful.
Monica is a film best enjoyed with as few spoilers as possible. It is, after all, a real film: one that can only be savored and enjoyed to the fullest if experienced. As far as tales of identity and queer acceptance go, it is hard to find something more optimistic, empathetic, compassionate, warm, and emotional in its simplicity. So far, the strongest film to come out of Venice.