La Sapienza

La Sapienza is a film that is a feast for the intellect, if not exactly one for watching while tired. There isn't a lot of action in the film, in fact director Eugene Green favors a kind of static style of intercutting between closeups, as if at a tennis match, but the script is full of metaphors and allusions that delight the neurons.

The title refers both to the word, which in English is sapience, meaning knowledge or wisdom, and a building in Rome designed by the architect Borromini (it can be seen in the poster). The main character is an architect (Fabrizio Rongione) who, to put it mildly, is jaded. He and his wife of 19 years are kind of going through the motions, and there is mention of a dead child.

The couple lives in Switzerland, and he decides he needs to go to Rome to research Borromini. She (Christelle Prot) goes with him. While on the way they come to the aid of teenage siblings. The girl suffers from a mysterious malady that makes her frequently tired. Prot takes an interest in her, and she decides she will stay behind while Rongione takes the boy, who is interested in becoming an architect, with him.

The plot, that these two older people find a renewal in the younger folk, is a bit trite, especially with the deadpan acting of Rongione. I'm not sure what Green was after--it really appears as if the man had come out of a fog. In an amusing scene where the two encounter an obnoxious Australian tourist, Rongione finally shows some emotion, and it seems to surprise him.

The more one knows about Baroque architecture, which I know almost nothing about, the more one can appreciate the film. There are other grad-school touches, such as when Green himself appears as a refugee from Iraq who identifies himself as a Chaldean. Prot says, "I thought they were extinct," and Green impishly answers, "Not quite."

I mostly enjoyed La Sapienza, but recommend watching it after a good night's sleep.