A 9-minute fever dream where Italy's biggest star becomes a war propaganda machine.
The actress Francesca Bertini, as every diva worthy of her name, always arrives on the set extremely late. One day, in the studio, she happened to hear a colleague actor who, back from the front, tells about the brutalities suffered by the civilians in the occupied territories. At night, still troubled by that story, Bertini falls asleep and dreams: in her dream she plays the role of Mariute, a young Friulian countrywoman, mother of three kids waiting for her husband homecoming from the frontline. One day, while she is going to the well for water, she is assaulted and molested by three enemy soldiers. Her father-in-law will avenge her. In the meantime Bertini, waking up with a start, will arrive to work on time and she will end the film inviting the public to put their savings into the war bonds.
Acting
Bertini plays diva, dream-victim, AND patriot in nine minutes.
Direction
Bencivenga weaponizes celebrity narcissism for the war effort.
Production
Frame story collapses into dream collapses into bank ad. Bonkers.
Director
Edoardo Bencivenga
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Bertini was Italy's first major female film star, and this short essentially weaponized her diva reputation—her real-life lateness becomes plot device for patriotic awakening. The film industry literally couldn't criticize her.
The dream-within-a-film structure lets audiences consume brutal wartime content while maintaining patriotic distance—Mariute's suffering becomes 'just a dream,' until the final frame reminds you it's very real and very fundable.
IT
