original title:
Ti mangio il cuore
directed by:
cast:
screenplay:
Pippo Mezzapesa, Antonella Gaeta, Davide Serino, from the book with the same title by Carlo Bonini and Giuliano Foschini
cinematography:
editing:
set design:
costume design:
music:
producer:
production:
Indigo Film, Rai Cinema, supported by Ministero della Cultura, with the support of Apulia Film Commission
distribution:
world sales:
country:
Italy
year:
2022
film run:
115'
format:
b/w
release date:
22/09/2022
festivals & awards:
The forbidden love between Andrea, the reluctant heir of the Malatesta family, and Marilena, the beautiful wife of the Camporeale boss, rekindles an old feud between two rival families. The fatal passion brings the clans back into war, in an ancient land, not so different from the far west, where only blood can wash out blood, following the ruthless codes of the local mafia. But Marilena, now cast out by the Camporeale and prisoner of the Malatesta, contended and reviled, with the strength only a wounded mother ripped away from her children can have, will oppose to a destiny which seems already written.
DIRECTOR'S NOTES:
The dual spirit of this story of cruelty and passion is already summed up in the title of the film, which translates literally as “I’ll Eat Your Heart.” On the one hand an archaic and ferocious society, dominated by the violence of primitive laws that govern old feuds between Mafiosi that have never been settled; on the other the force of love that disrupts and subverts, a spark that starts a new war, but also triggers the desire for a different life. The story of Ti mangio il cuore is an archetypal one that speaks of love, vendetta and death, but also of a land of irresistible beauty, Gargano, torn apart and stained with blood by a little-known but ruthless Mafia. A world in which the spiral of violence seems to sweep everything away and destroy even love: but not Marilena, who is not afraid to live her passions, her desires, and does not intend to yield to a fate already written. For a different destiny is possible.