Film

Lies to Live by (1994)

Director: Guido Chiesa

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

An ambitious effort to evoke the Euro-Angst movies of the '70s this starts with images in blown-up 8mm of the wringing of hands and razor-blades being run across chests, before launching into a story about a disconnected foursome in post-industrial Turin. Francesco (Lorimer) is an ex-hard-left, ex-musician, factory worker married dysfunctionally to university worker Carla (Milillo). She's recently had a fling in the States with the mysterious house detective Charles (Sage, from Hartley's Simple Men), who's visiting Turin, staying at the house of her best friend Gabriella. Francesco falls into a murderous mood. With its mix of political-era Godard, '90s avant-garde anomie and Euro rock, Chiesa's film sets up a series of teasing conundrums about modern urban alienation, doppelgängers, and the like, but manages to leave them all unresolved. Photography by Gherardo Gossi gives the film an interesting surface (mainly composed of abandoned factory interiors and waste lands), but in the end the relentless lack of humour or seeming point make it a disappointing show.

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