Misunderstood (2014)

Rome, 1984, Aria is nine-year-old girl. On the verge of divorce, Aria's infantile and selfish parents are too preoccupied with their careers and extra-marital affairs to properly tend to ... See full summary »

Director:

Asia Argento

Writers:

Barbara Alberti (screenplay), Asia Argento

Stars:

Giulia Salerno, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Gabriel Garko

2 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Giulia Salerno	...	Aria
Charlotte Gainsbourg	...	Yvonne Casella, la madre
Gabriel Garko	...	Padre
Carolina Poccioni	...	Lucrezia
Anna Lou Castoldi	...	Donatina
Alice Pea	...	Angelica
Andrea Pittorino	...	Adriano
Riccardo Russo	...	Ciccio
Sofia Patron	...	Maria Teresa
Max Gazzè	...	Manuel Ginori
Justin Pearson	...	Ricky
Gianmarco Tognazzi	...	Dodo
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mario Bois	...	Il postino
Olimpia Carlisi	...	Nonna
Antony Hickling	...	Ricky (voice)

Storyline

Rome, 1984, Aria is nine-year-old girl. On the verge of divorce, Aria's infantile and selfish parents are too preoccupied with their careers and extra-marital affairs to properly tend to any of Aria's needs. While her two older sisters are pampered, Aria is treated with cold indifference. Yet she yearns to love and to be loved. At school, Aria excels academically but is considered a misfit by everyone. She is misunderstood. Aria finds comfort in her cat - Dac and in her best friend - Angelica. Thrown out of both parents' homes, abandoned by all, even her best friend, Aria finally reaches the limit of what she can bear. She makes an unexpected decision in her life.

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Plot Keywords:

school | arrest | suicide attempt | drugs | writing on a wall | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian French English

Release Date:

5 June 2014 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Incomprendida

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wildside, Paradis Films, Rai Cinema

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Aria is Asia Argento's middle name.

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Soundtracks

Aria Lives VI
Written by Asia Argento
Performed by James Marlon Magas, Fred Longberg Holm (as Fredrick Knud Lonberg-Holm) & Julie Pomerleau

User Reviews

Makes the familiar fresh

Argento has managed to transcend the trappings the ocean of coming of age/awful childhood films to create something odd, funny, sad horrifying, inventive and unique.

It's triply impressive because the heroine here is a 'poor little rich girl' – thus making her less automatically sympathetic, and she is clearly rooted in Argento's own childhood growing up with artistic, dramatic and well known parents. And it's very easy for such a personal film to lose its objectivity and simply become a scream at those adults that wounded you as a child. But by playing deftly with black humor and touches of the surreal the film mostly avoids self- pity on one side and the overly familiar on the other.

Yes, by the end watching spunky, sweet and sad little Aria get endlessly shuffled back and forth between her divorced and monstrously selfish parents gets a bit repetitive (although it IS all slowly evolving towards an ending – the repetition does pay off). And a few sequences don't work as well as most. But for every minor miss-step under Argento's adventurous hand there are a number of wonderful and very cinematic moments. It's a film I look forward to seeing again, and I hope it gets an English subtitled release on blu-ray or DVD soon.