In God’s hand, a tragic event shakes up the life of Fabietto, the teenager whom Paolo Sorrentino makes his alter ego in his autobiographical film. Without disclosing anything, we can still say that the astonishing circumstances in which this tragedy occurs in God’s hand are fully consistent with reality.
“This is why, even today, I believe I owe my life to Diego Maradona,” confides the filmmaker during a videoconference interview with Press. When he died last year, I had a lot of grief, like millions of admirers from all over the world, but it was also a personal mourning for me. It was very painful. “
IMAGE PROVIDED BY NETFLIX
Filippo Scotti has been chosen to embody the alter ego of Paolo Sorrentino in God’s hand (È stata la mano di Dio), a film in which the filmmaker recalls his youthful years.
Like divine intervention
Let’s go back to the 1980s. In the Vomero district of Naples, where he grew up, Paolo Sorrentino, then a teenager, found it hard to believe the rumors that Diego Maradona, the best soccer player in the world and absolute idol of the young man, could leave FC Barcelona to join a low-ranking team in Napoli. The arrival of this Argentinian messiah finally gives the unloved Italian city a sense of pride that it had not known for a long time.
“Naples is full of contradictions,” the filmmaker points out. There is everything in this city, which is both dangerous and poetic. As it has been dominated in different eras by different regimes, there is a kind of one-of-a-kind kaleidoscope. ”
I have lived in Rome for a long time now, but while making this film, I still found [Naples] as I knew her in my youth. God’s hand is a form of love letter for her.
Paolo Sorrentino
On the very day that, for the very first time, he went to watch an SSC Napoli match alone in which Diego Maradona played, the drama mentioned in his new feature film took place in a place where, in principle, he should have been. . Had it not been for this decision to go to the stadium to see the new star of the local team play, the teenager Paolo Sorrentino would have been there too.
“I waited to be ready before telling my story,” he says. I wanted to take enough distance to avoid certain pitfalls, in particular that of complacency towards more painful episodes. I believe that this kind of wound needs to be healed before it is mentioned in a film. For that, it takes time. ”
A character like any other
Filippo Scotti, who also participated in this discussion with Press, was chosen by Paolo Sorrentino to play this adolescent whose life is directly inspired by his. Benefiting from some experience on Italian TV, the young actor finds here his first major score in the cinema.
PHOTO JOEL C RYAN, INVISION / ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filippo Scotti and Paolo Sorrentino during the presentation of God’s hand at the Venice Film Festival. The film won the Grand Jury Prize.
“When I landed the role, at the end of a final audition, I preferred not to dig too deep into Paolo’s own life to instead focus on the script and approach the character as I would for no any other, explains Filippo Scotti. Otherwise, the idea of playing the teenage Paolo, in front of him for two months, would have been too intimidating and anxious. I preferred not to think about it too much! ”
The filmmaker specifies for his part to have chosen not to say much to the one who interprets his alter ego. “I only had to intervene sometimes to sort out small details, but Filippo seized everything about the character from the start. It was already visible during the hearings, ”he adds.
About Netflix
If the director of The great bellezza, winner of the Oscar for best foreign language film in 2014, has already had experience with broadcasting platforms (his series The Young Pope and The New Pope were produced for the specialized channel HBO), it offers for the first time a feature film for which Netflix is exclusively distributing. Even if God’s hand is presented in a few cinemas around the world (including in Montreal), the fact remains that the vast majority of the public will see this work on the platform of the giant of online distribution.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY NETFLIX
God’s hand is Paolo Sorrentino’s most personal film, seen here on the set.
“I certainly prefer the big screen, but at the same time, I’m not as fundamentalist as some other filmmakers on it,” says Paolo Sorrentino. The modes of distribution change, the relationship between a work and the spectator too, but that does not mean that the link is less valid because the spectator can stop and resume a viewing whenever he wants.
“I see a parallel with the book in this regard,” he continues. It is still rare that we read a book from cover to cover without stopping and that does not alter our feeling as a reader. I believe that for a viewer who really watches, the experience can be as satisfying on a platform as it is on the big screen. ”
A feeling of renewal
Having started his career by filming in Naples The man in addition, 23 years ago, Paolo Sorrentino believes that God’s hand, sound 9e feature film, could mark a stage in his process as a filmmaker.
” At the time of The man in addition, everything for me was new, to discover. There it is harder. This is also one of the reasons why I wanted to do God’s hand, which is very different from my previous films. Thanks to God’s hand, I fell in love with cinema again by discovering things that I had never done before. I was able to improvise exactly the same way I did for my first film. We’ll see where it leads, because I don’t yet know what my next one will be up to. ”
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, also Italian candidate for the Oscars in the category of best international film, God’s hand (È stata la mano di Dio is the title in the original Italian version) is playing indoors. It will be available on Netflix on December 15th.