THE EMBALMER (L'Imbalsamatore)
Reviewed by: Harvey S. Karten Grade: B+ First Run Features Directed by: Matteo Garrone Written by: Ugo Chiti, Matteo Garrone Cast: Ernesto Mahieux, Valerio Foglia Manzillo, Elisabetta Rocchetti, Linda Bernardi, Pietro Biondi, Bernardino Terracciano, Marcella Granito Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 6/26/03
You've doubtless seen odd couples strolling down the street arm in arm and wondered, "What do they see in each other?" Matteo Garrone's "The Embalmer" doesn't fully explain what a tall, handsome, hunk of a 20-year-old Italian man sees in a 50- year-old dwarf, but that tantalizing secret is part of its seductive texture. Matteo Garrone's film is not his first but is his most complex, best developed film, though he's no stranger to accolades. In 1996 he won the Nanni Moretti's Scaher Festival award with a short on immigrants which then became a full- length "Terra di Mezzo," later knocking out "Guests" and "Roman Summer." Few Americans would be familiar with his previous output but now we in the U.S. have the opportunity to cross into a world that's different from the one most of us are familiar with, filmed in a coastal Italian town near Napoli that is obviously of no value to foreign tourism. If the neighborhoods covered in the film had anything to offer vacationers, we wouldn't know given Garrone's deliberate noirish filming of a bleak, rainy community populated by people who live largely in standardized housing.
In highlighting a performance by Ernest Mahieux as Peppino, a 50-year-old man with a height of about four feet six, Garrone does not reach for a Fellini-esque resonance, but allows us to ponder whether we, in a situation similar to that found by Valerio (Valerio Foglia Manzillo), would hook up with this diminutive but intelligent and skilled man.
Based on a true story exploited by a tabloid in Rome, "The Embalmer" is about the relationship of the short, middle-aged man with an unlikely young man who could easily be a model for any Versace ad--and, in fact, the actor does enjoy a career in the fashion industry, taking this as his first film role. When Peppino meets Valerio in the local zoo and notices the young man's deep interest in animals, he asks the fellow how much he earns and, learning his salary as a waiter, he offers to double the income if Valerio would be his assistant in a taxidermist's shop where Peppino enjoy a rep as not only the best animal stuffer in the area. Unknown to Valerio he is also the mafia's choice for the occasional job of sewing packets of heroin into the chests of cadavers. Peppino is physically attracted to Valerio but rather than overtly come on to him, he sets up parties with hookers, giving the young man the impression that his caresses are just part of the bonhomie. When a young woman, Deborah (Elisabetta Rocchetti) comes into Valerio's life, Peppino is threatened, goes along with the new triangulated situation, until his thwarted desire for Valerio becomes intolerable. The mounting frustration leads to a melodramatic turn at the conclusion of the story.
If this story were to be filmed in Hollywood, Al Pacino would be the mafia chieftain, heading into the toilet of a restaurant to reach for a hidden gun to use on his rivals. In the more realistic, artfully done "Embalmer," Peppino's mafia boss is just a businessman indistinguishable from any middle-management guy on the street, going through the typical routine of asking Peppino about his health. Every aspect of the drama is toned down, giving the story a feeling of dread, an expectation of something about to come to break into the foggy, uncertain feelings of each member of this odd triangle. In a subtle performance, Mahieux plays his character not as a freak but a man whose intelligence would have gone a long way toward giving him the relationships he craves had he not been burdened by a dwarfish stature. Peppino is a manipulator, a man who does not come on strong, knowing that the aggressive touch would drive his handsome fellow away, while Valerio Foglia Manzillo, as the vapid hunk with little will of his own, is about to come of age, making the first major decision of his life.
While most of us cannot picture ourselves in quite the world depicted by Sr. Garrone, we are all familiar with periods of loneliness, of isolation, of bottled desires that make "The Embalmer" an enriching study of the human condition.
Not Rated. 101 minutes. Copyright 2003 by Harvey Karten at Harveycritic@cs.com
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