Eva is a 19 year-old Italian girl, Bruno a 45 year-old French man. Two very different souls who were strangers to each other, connected by a tragic fate: Eva causing an accident that kills Bruno's wife When the two meet, Eva hides her true identity from Bruno and starts spending time with him, determined to heal the shared loneliness and despair into which they are both sinking. The two embark on a journey within themselves that will lead them to face their ghosts and heal their respective wounds, until the truth comes out... What looks like an unavoidable black hole transforms into a new beginning that will make them both learn that love is stronger than pain, hate, and even death.
International TitleThe Origin of the World Year of production 2024 Length 109' CountryItaly Shooting Format DCP 3.4 K Aspect Ratio 2:00:1 Dialogue Italian Director Rossella Inglese Production Companies Armosia with Rai Cinema, Wave Cinema, Fairway Film Producers Francesco Paolo Romeres, Federico Lami, Massimiliano Zanin Screenplay Rossella Inglese, Dario D’amato, Vittorio Alonzo, Andrea Sperandio Cinematographer Andrea Benjamin Manenti EditorLivia Galtieri CostumesAida Ghafouri Scenography Marta Morandini Sound Ivano Staffieri Music Fabio Massimo Colasanti, freddy Murphy & Chiara Lee Cast Giorgia Faraoni, Fabrizio Rongione, Giovanni Calcagno , Giovanna Di Rauso, Roberta Mattei Festival selections Alice nella Città 2024, Italy - World Premiere Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2025, USA
Director's Statement The body plays a prominent role in the visual and narrative world of my film, as it has always been a crucial element i n my personal artistic research as a director. As a matter of fact, the female protagonists I portrayed in my short films all had an uneasy relationship with their bodies, one packed with guilt and oppressive feelings. This relation with the body and with a sexuality experienced in its conflictual and violent form, brought me to investigate the cultural roots associated with the female body. That 's why I turned to the study of Genesis and the character of Eva, who later became my protagonist. In "L'origine del mondo", I attempt to depict the consequences of original sin on the Feminine and, especially, on the inharmonic relationship between man and woman. In my movie, women's bodies are on the one hand humiliated and raped (Eva is a victim of harassment and revenge porn; Bruno's wife dies in a car accident), and on the other hand they seem to be destined for freedom and pleasure (Eva's desire for Bruno is stronger than her guilt and leads her to finally loosen up and break free). Male and famale, however, find themselves stuck in a hellish circle with no way out, where incommunicability reigns and the pursuit of a profound connection never manages to find its fulfillment. Eva and Bruno's bodies s can each other, brush against each other, touch each other, merge and separate in a whirlwind of attraction and repulsion that will try, through love, to find forgiveness and resolution. The visual style of the story will be influenced by the visual poetics of Terrence Malick ("Days of Heaven", " Badlands"). Malick is able to interpret the theme of spirituality in light of the intimate and earthly needs that arise in a couple's relationship. The energy of nature will alternate with the poetics of the body: a body made of flesh, a body bleeding and physically marked by pain. The direction will focus on the body and Eva and Bruno's point of view. To this end, the camera will remain close to the characters, capturing the intimate power of their close-ups, isolating them from their surroundings. We will use a telephoto lens to compress spaces and achieve a soft-focus accentuateci by open apertures. W e will thus establish a distance that will create an intimate, even morbid, dialogue with the viewer, in the style of Lars von Trier's films ("Antichrist", "Melancholia"). The cinematography will take a minimalist approach, favoring the use of natural light for exterior shots and resorting mainly to reflections forinterior scenes, to convey the perception of real spaces and the use of light that is essential for this type of story. The settings will be bare and use a specific color palette that echoes Pawlikowski's essentialist style. The shooting style, minimalist and dry, will be based on the research undertaken for my short films.
