Movies Reviews

The Double Hour (La doppia ora) – Movie Review

By Ron Wilkinson May 24, 2011, 13:53 GMT

Guido (Filippo Timi), a former cop, is a luckless veteran of the speed-dating scene in Turin. But, much to his surprise, he meets Slovenian immigrant Sonia (Ksenia Rappoport), a chambermaid at a high-end hotel. The two hit it off, and a passionate romance develops. After they leave the city for a romantic getaway in the country, things suddenly take a dark turn. As Sonia’s murky past resurfaces, her reality starts to ...more

Steamy Italian giallo in the finest tradition of film noir. Twists, turns and tension to the end.

After multiple wins and nominations as Benito Mussolini in “Vincere” star Filippo Timi takes his brooding chilliness to the glamorous city of Turin. Set amongst the rich and beautiful he plays Guido, an ex-cop with a troubled past and a deep-seated case on entrenched loneliness.

The opening of the film finds him in the midst of a speed dating session in the city, where the most alone of the lonely come to exchange feckless conversation and hope against all odds for that special someone.

At the event Guido meets Sonia (Ksenia Rappoport, “The Unknown Woman”), a Slovenian immigrant working as a chambermaid at a high-end hotel. We are immediately put on notice that this woman is too smart and attractive for such work. The two speak briefly as they have their two minutes together but nothing develops.

At the end of the event they meet again, by chance, and exchange phone numbers. A relationship develops but it grows in fits and starts with neither person seeming completely comfortable in their skin or completely comfortable with the arrangement.

To the audience this seems at first like two people who cannot believe they have been so lucky. After all, they are both strikingly sexy, in a fantastically romantic city and seem to have it all. Guido has taken a job as a private security guard at a mansion filled with art treasures.

Although he sits surrounded by wealth his position is far below his former career as a surveillance specialist in public law enforcement. Sonia, too, has a murky past that does not seem to bear much scrutiny.

Director Giuseppe Capotondi viewed this script as a chance to combine a love story with a mystery thriller. Like all good thrillers the two main characters come together with a sense of unspoken guilt. They are already on the run from the start.

As the film progresses the tension is ratcheted up in good Hitchcock style as clues are released one by one. A crime has been committed that almost kills them both and as they recover they brood about what happened and why. The audience gets to brood, too, as Sonia goes in and out of her coma in a surrealistic series of flashbacks.

This is film noir of the best kind, the classic story of love getting in the way of a good crime. The complexity comes with the duality of the situations, the false paths and mazes of words and feelings. Capotondi states he influenced by Italian film noir, or giallo, in the 1970’s and 1980’s, citing Dario Argento and Mario Bava as major influences.

This film is more romantic, tragic and sophisticated than most of the works by the two famed giallo auteurs. So much the better, the film took home Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Italian Film at the Venice International Film Festival.

For those who have seen Gene Hackman’s and Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation” and enjoyed it, this film is a must see. Timi is able to channel that same sense of troubled genius and emotional incapacity. Another film that manages to create this same sense of surreal anxiety is Michelangelo Antonioni’s hyper-atmospheric “Blowup.”

Those are high bars to be set for a first-time director but this film comes through. “Double Hour” harkens back to the Golden Age of Italian cinema with its long takes, careful blocking and lusciously framed cinematography.

The screenplay verges on going overboard with the dream sequences. There are viewers who see the old trick of falling asleep, telling a story and then awaking as being a bit of a cheap trick---it could have done without the dream/coma sequences.

Fortunately that is a small part of this film, most of which is anchored in sly riddle and clues hidden in plain sight. The acting by the two leads is great. Kseniya Rappoport and Filippo Timi develop a good chemistry on screen as they learn to trust each other.

For a feature debut by young director Giuseppe Capotondi, he manages to pace the action very well. The tension escalates very well throughout the film and things are nicely tied up at the end. Although it might have been better with a little less hocus-pocus and a simpler “who-dunnit” style, the Italian flair carries the day. Thoroughly enjoyable without being too “arty.”

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Directed by: Giuseppe Capotondi
Written by: Alessandro Fabbri, Ludovica Rampoldi and Stefano Sardo
Starring: Kseniya Rappoport, Filippo Timi and Antonia Truppo 
Release Date: April 15, 2011
MPAA: Not Rated
Runtime: 83 minutes
Country: Italy
Language: Italian
Color: Color