First Love2004
Directed by Matteo Garrone
🏆 7 wins & 14 nominations
The premise
Vittorio is looking for a woman who matches his ideal. Through a classified ad he meets Sonia, a sweet, pleasant, intelligent girl. However, she weighs 125 pounds -- which according to Vittorio is way too much. A goldsmith by trade, Vittorio is obsessed with the desire to shape Sonia's body and mind as does a fire with gold. Almost imperceptibly Sonia becomes a passive participant and the relationship grows into a reciprocal masochistic game. When the two lovers isolate themselves in a country house in the Veneto hills, they dangerously lose touch with reality and the rest of the world.
Horror Vault's take
A meticulous Italian goldsmith seeks a partner he can shape to his exacting, disturbing standards — and believes he has found her in Sonia, a woman who gradually surrenders herself to his consuming vision. What begins as an unconventional romance quietly curdles into something far darker, as Vittorio's obsession with moulding her body and will grows ever more extreme. Isolated together in the Veneto countryside, the couple drift into a dangerous mutual dependency that blurs the line between devotion and destruction. Director Marco Bellocchio crafts a suffocating character study where love becomes an act of erasure.
Content: Depictions Of Disordered Eating, Psychological Abuse And Coercive Control, Body Image Themes That May Be Distressing, Emotional Manipulation
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