Leopardi

Based on the fraught life of 19th-century Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi, Mario Martone’s expansive biopic features an unforgettable performance by Elio Germano in the title role. Born into an aristocratic and learned family living in Recanati, Giacomo has access to a celebrated library where he and his siblings are encouraged by their strict father to spend many hours in study. Physically frail, he increasingly leads a life of the mind, devoting himself to an epistolary friendship with scholar Pietro Giordani, several unrequited romantic interests and a feverish compulsion to write. Like Martone’s previous film, the historical epic We Believed (NIC 2013), Leopardi brings the past to life with sumptuous visuals and a propulsive narrative. Filmed in the actual house, library and streets where Leopardi lived, the film offers a scintillating depiction of the life and times of a man whose body just could not keep pace with his intellect.