Sea Purple (Viole di Mare) Genre: Romantic Drama Language: Italian with English Subtitles Director: Donatella Maiorca Cast: Valeria Solarino, Isabella Ragonese, Ennio Fantastichini, Giselda Volodi, Maria Grazia Cucinotta Released: 2009 Duration: 102 Minutes Rating: R16 Violence, sex scenes and content that may disturb In the tradition of tragic tales of forbidden lesbian love, Italian Film Festival feature Sea Purple (Viole di Mare) takes a look at the attempts of two women to be who they are, and be together, in late 19th Century Sicily. Dripping with drama, desolation and beauty, the film shows how two women: Angela and Sara, strive to live well ahead the social and religious strictness of their time. We are introduced to Angela (Valeria Solarino), a tomboy who is punished by her severe father for her waywardness and free spirited nature, as she grows up aunt in a small Italian island town. Her best friend Sara (Isabella Ragonese) is forced to leave the island, but years later they are reunited and find they are head over heels for one another. With one brief stolen kiss at a washing line, they are swept into a tunnel of seemingly impossible love and desire, but the hardy women are undeterred by the disgust of their town and Angela’s brutal father, who even locks her in a cave and tries to make her marry a man. It is Angela’s mother who finds a solution that changes everything. The setting is bleak rather than beautiful and the film seems as though it was made in another time, making the small town fear, desperation and darkness at its heart all the more powerful. It’s at times painful viewing and not for the faint of heart, but what is? Showing: Auckland Rialto 5, 7, 9, 12, 13 Oct Auckland Bridgeway 30 Sept 4, 5, 13 Oct Wellington Paramount 17, 18, 19, 20, 27 Oct Christchurch Hollywood 25, 30 Oct Dunedin Rialto 1, 2, 3 Nov Nelson Suter 8, 9, 10 Nov Hawke's Bay Cinema Gold 15, 16, 17 Nov Tauranga Rialto 21, 24, 28 Nov Jacqui Stanford - 12th September 2011