Vera

The burdens of the rich and famous are expertly illuminated in this heart-rending story of Vera Gemma, the vulnerable, middle-aged daughter of Italian actor Giuliano Gemma. Raised in a cult of beauty, she has been exploited her entire life by both the film industry and the men she has loved. Ageing out of society’s ideals of beauty, no longer rich and probably no longer employable as an actor, she hovers on the edge of the contemporary Roman glitterati.

Blurring the line between reality and fiction, filmmakers Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel weave a tale of Vera’s unlikely friendship with a small boy and his family. Although they live in a world vastly different from the one she is accustomed to, she opens her heart to them with understanding, compassion, and generosity that defies good judgement. 

Vera’s friends want to know the reasoning behind her choices, and quite frankly, you might also question it. Is she just being kind or searching for much more? We watch uneasily as the story unfolds and collapses around her in a final, heartbreaking scene.

Exposing the duality of a culture that can appear glamorous but is self-serving and cruel, Vera is told in a sensitive, sympathetic fashion by a directorial duo awarded Best Director and a lead awarded Best Actress in the Horizons section at Venice Film Festival.

– Cherry van der Stelt