L' immensità Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

L' immensità Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 28, 2023

Kind of interestingly given some of the plot dynamics of this film presented by Music Box Films, Music Box Films also brought out Little Girl on Blu-ray last year and offered viewers a rather compelling documentary account of a French child born as a biological male, but who insisted from a very early age that "he" was a girl. This "up close and personal" view was at times beautifully heartfelt and at other times absolutely emotionally devastating, but it at least showed what having someone with gender dysphoria in a family environment did not just to the person experiencing it, but to their relatives. Something very similar is at play, with some significant differences, in L'immensità, a fictional enterprise that posits Penélope Cruz as an Italian wife and mother named Clara who is attempting to come to terms with the fact that her adolescent daughter Adriana (a very impressive Luana Giuliani in her first feature) insists "she" is a boy. The fact that Adri is considerably older than the tot shown in Little Girl gives this film a much more potent edge at times, especially since Adri is at the age when interest in the "opposite sex" starts to blossom, and Adri becomes attracted to a young girl living in what amounts to a kind of shanty town near Adri's own home.

The mother in Little Girl in particular has some psychological "issues" surrounding the "status" of her child, wondering if her own prenatal urges to have a girl rather than a boy somehow was communicated to the child, leading to a situation that is fraught with potential peril. There's absolutely no doubt that Clara suffers from perhaps even deeper psychological ailments, as is depicted rather early in the film, but which then perhaps gets to melodramatic levels as the story progresses. But one way or the other Clara does not seem to feel "responsible" for Adri's situation in the same way that the mother in the documentary does, and there's absolutely no doubt that Clara's husband and Adri's father Felice (Vincenzo Amato) is having none of what he considers to be a manifestation of Adri's teen rebellion.

And in fact the dysfunctional relationship between Clara and Felice seems to have spilled out into the entire family (there are two other children), as evidenced by some disturbing behavior by Adri's younger brother in particular. This part of the film is emotionally unnerving, but it's also at times weirdly disjunctive in terms of some of the more gentle aspects the story attempts to tell. What is perhaps a more unsettling stylistic choice is co- writer and director Emanuele Crialese's decision to add some quasi-musical vignettes to the story, starting with a kind of bizarre song and dance routine that breaks out early in the story as Clara attempts to get her kids to help her set the table, but then later in more of a fantasy or magical realist sense when Adri's television watching offers Clara, and then later Adri him/herself, "performing" somewhat hilarious versions of the great old Francis Lai "Theme from Love Story" in black and white on tv. I guess it's a suitable enough metaphor for Adri's obvious desire for escape, but tonally (no music pun intended) I found it to be at odds with much of the rest of the story.

Those of you who have already been aware of L'immensità may know what Crialese came out as transgender during the press junkets for this film, and stated that a lot of what is portrayed here came from his own personal experience. There is a rather fascinating "child's eye POV" here that is distinctly different than the one offered in Little Girl, but I'd strongly recommend anyone interested in either this film or this subject in general to perhaps slate a "double feature" with both of these really compelling stories.

L' immensità Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

L'immensità is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Music Box Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists the Arri Alexa Mini as the camera of choice, and with a 2.8K source capture resolution, I'm assuming this had a 2K DI. This is another rather dazzling exception to my self created rule that Arri captures are at times at least less pleasing to me personally than captures by some other technologies. The brightly lit Rome locations offer a really sumptuous palette throughout the story, and those same lighting conditions tend to support really excellent fine detail levels a lot of the time. There are a few slightly yellow graded scenes (mostly inside the home of the family) where there's just the slightest hint of what I've termed "Alexa murk", but it's absolutely minimal. The black and white sequences don't quite have the deep black levels I was expecting, but the imagery is crisp and very well detailed.

L' immensità Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

L'immensità features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options in the original Italian. This is a "kitchen sink" drama on many levels, and as such surround activity can be limited to background ambient environmental sounds. The outdoor material has a good deal more immersion, and some of the scenes with Adri in the quasi-shanty town have some nice surround activity. The film's use of musical sequences also provides clear if sporadic engagement of the side and rear channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

L' immensità Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Photo Gallery (HD)


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:10)

Additionally the keepcase insert features an inner print of Cruz.

L' immensità Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Cruz attracted more critical love letters for her work in L'immensità, and she's undeniably impressive throughout, but I have to say Luana Giuliani is just as impressive, and arguably more so. The film is a little uneven and maybe could have used less overt melodrama and even fewer musical vignettes, but it's still a visceral viewing experience. Technical merits are first rate. Recommended.