Nine (2009)

A musical is a special kind of film. Some people like it. Others hate it. You’ll find me somewhere in between and certainly not a fan.

Nine, is not a pure musical. It uses the fabric of a musical to speak its own tale: the tale of a director which seeks its way through life, both blessed and cursed by his own gift.

There is a lot of truth in this film, distilled from life experience. Truth mirrored in the different characters of the film:

• Lilli, the costume designer (by Judi Dench), a colleague, consultant, but most of all a director’s friend,  giving him the final word of advice,
• Luisa Contini, the director’s wife (played by the amazing Marion Cotillard) – how may one live with a person that is constantly lying, no matter how much it is loved?
• Carla, the director’s mistress (by a more-sexy-than-ever Penélope Cruz) – even a mistress needs time and emotional reassurance!
• Claudia, the main actress in all the director’s films (by Nicole Kidman – breathtaking as always), finally speaking the truth about herself and the director…
• the director’s mother (by Sophia Loren), “nobody can help you Guido but yourself”!
• Finally Guido, the director, (by Daniel Day-Lewis, with whom one forgets – as in any other play – that he plays a role!), a person trying to devour everything around him, in order to fill his devastating emptiness, exposed to the mirror of his previous successes, that finally manages to find himself and reconcile the child inside him with the adult that he is.

When few things are spoken in a movie, they get another weight…

Rob Marshall made an amazing film (for me, it is his best so far) you should not miss, even if you are not musical’s fans. It reminds me of “Alll That Jazz“, another musical I really loved.

For all the above and some really magical moments:

My rating:  10 / 10

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