The village of Inviolata (Italian for ‘unsullied’) lives up to its name in successful
Italian director Alice Rohrwacher’s third film. The small community of tobacco
farmers lives as it has for centuries. However, the marquis’ car – who rules the plantation with an iron fist – and her
son Tancredi’s mobile phone reveal that we are closer to the present than we
might think.
In turn, the
exploited villagers abuse the endless patience of young Lazzaro, who is innocence
personified. From the moment he and Tancredi become friends, everything goes
wrong. Following a dramatic incident, the villagers are dragged into the modern age. Lazzaro felice (a screenplay winner in Cannes) tells a wondrous tale in which fable
and social realism unite, as if by magic.