DALIDA
| 2017 – 124′ – Biopic, Drama.
Written by: Liza Azuelos, Jacques Pessis.
Based on the Books by: Catherine Rihoit, Orlando.
Directed by: Liza Azuelos.
Starring: Sveva Alviti, Riccardo Scamarcio, Jean-Paul Rouve, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Alessandro Borghi, Alexandro Borghi, Niels Schneider, Valentina Carli.
Official Competition COLCOA 2017.
In French and Italian with English subtitles.
A Under The Milky Way release. |
In the tradition of French chanson a singer’s ability to sell the audience on the emotions of the song is everything. Few did this better than Dalida. Over the course of 30 years beginning in the 1950s, this Egypt-born Italian became a French idol with a guileless voice and sensual stage persona, selling 170 million records worldwide. But all that professional bliss came packaged with a fair amount of private torture. This glittery biopic faithfully chronicles the complexities of being a liberated woman in a less liberated era, as well as the ferocious passions of a life in which, despite all the triumphs, suicide became a recurring theme. Lavish recreations of Dalida’s most memorable performances, as well as cleverly edited archive material, distill her stylistic range, from her early incarnation as a yé-yé girl to the sequins and polyester of the disco diva years. Unknown Italian model turned actress, Sveva Alviti, breaks through with a star-making performance, landing both the privately insecure woman and the legendary chanteuse with uncanny aplomb.