Rosa e Cornelia

Becoming pregnant after an encounter at the Venice Carnival in 1748, the already engaged young Countess Cornelia is exiled by her shocked parents to their country house. Rosa, a servant there, is in the same situation. After initial antagonism, the women grow close. However, when the time comes for them to give birth, suppressed schemes and intentions come violently to the surface, with terrible consequences. This atmospheric and controlled chamber drama reveals its theatrical origins in a tight use of locations. At times the psychological intention of the mise-en-scène - the choice of colouring, the faded rooms, ascetic decor and few potent objects - suggest the charged importance of such details in Borowczyk's Blanche. And at their best the performances are equally precise, with the latent ambiguities of each woman's role effectively highlighted. It's about the shifts in power and authority, gender relations and betrayal. A human comedy then, in the Chekhovian mould, but stripped down to its lonely, humane skeleton.