Off the Wall Films presents

VERMIGLIO

Mauro Delpero, Italy / France / Belgium, 2024, 119m, 15, sub-titles, F-rated

NB - Doors at 5:30pm for a 6:30pm start. Pre-screening supper booking now closed. ONLINE SALES NOW CLOSED - TICKETS ON THE DOOR FROM 5:30PM.

Italy, 1944. The tiny Alpine village of Vermiglio cowers - not so much at the threat of the war as under the weight of tradition that governs the lives of its inhabitants. The local schoolteacher Cesare oversees his seven offspring with an ironclad sense of preordination and seems oblivious to the impact a further child will have on the family, squandering what little money he has on expensive gramophone records. His eldest and most docile daughter Lucia, apparently the only one without guilty secrets, is the most susceptible to the upheaval that the arrival of Pietro, a Sicilian deserter, brings. Before long she and Pietro are married, but what follows is a revelation from Pietro’s past which scandalises the village and inadvertently leads to Lucia’s casting aside the fate which threatened to stifle her.

Breathtakingly photographed with a rich palette of earthen hues, this historical domestic epic achieves something which so many films of its type ignore in favour of over-kinetic spectacle – a quiet realism that draws the viewer irresistibly into its world so that you feel like you are living life alongside the characters. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize (Silver Lion) at last year’s Venice Film Festival.

‘Pulsates with harsh, anguished emotion, thanks in no small part to splendid visuals that make it the most beautiful film of the year‘ – The Daily Beast.

‘…a richly compassionate, emotional and detailed drama of family secrets in the wartime Italian countryside… wonderfully acted with unaffected naturalism by its cast of professionals and newcomers’ - The Guardian.

'Vermiglio is a rich tapestry of human sensibility. It is tender, funny, devastating, and hopeful. A profound cinematic observation’ – The Curb.

‘Many things at once, Vermiglio achieves a kind of cohesion that I can only really explain by waving my hands and invoking the magic of cinema’ – Screen Rant.

‘It is a rich, enveloping film that asks viewers to approach it as if tiptoeing through the snow’ – The New York Times.

‘It is magnetic and absorbing fare, and one of the finest dramas of the year’ – Filmhounds.

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Carers' tickets - we offer complimentary tickets to carers of people with disabilities. If you would like to attend the screening along with the person in your care please message  offthewall@gmx.co.uk  with your request for a ticket. Please note - you are eligible for this offer only if you are accompanied by a paying person with disabilities.