Nanni Moretti is back. Tre Piani, presented in competition at Cannes, transports the spectator to an opulent Roman building in order to describe the life of inhabitants for whom “living together” is not a piece of cake.
The director adapts Three floors, a novel by Eshkol Nevo that he transposes to Italy to provide an overview of the life of his favorite city. He stages himself but also directs excellent performers in this choral film in which we recognize in particular Margherita Buy, Alba Rohrwacher and Riccardo Scarmacio. “It is a painful film which never becomes a drama but which remains a hymn to life thanks to women”, specified the director in front of the press at the Cannes Film Festival.
Women above all
Already in Mia Madre, Nanni Moretti put a female character at the center of his story. He continues in this direction for Tre Piani by showing a beautiful sensitivity. A man who suspects his neighbor of having sexually assaulted his little girl, a pregnant woman who fears she will not be able to assume her future motherhood and parents confronted with their son’s irresponsibility are part of the gallery of characters proposed by the filmmaker.
“I describe stubborn men, braced on their positions, They are convinced that they are right while the female characters try to mend things”, he insists. If they do not always succeed, their attempts bring a warm light to the heart of the chaos. And Tre Piani ends on a note of hope with its couples who dance the tango in the street as if carried away by the flood of a life stronger than anything.