Agnese and Stefano turn to each other in hope of salvation, but there are no easy paths. His parents (Antonella Attili, Federico Pacifici) are being evicted from their home, and his friends, especially Lele (Edoardo Pesce), are seriously bad influences. Both are going through a period of limbo: Agnese is negotiating her burgeoning adulthood within the straightjacketing confines of religion while Stefano struggles with other kinds of instability. The two speak - they’re attracted to each other - and they communicate via her stolen phone. That’s one of many standout details about “Pure Hearts” - De Paolis presents a picture of the ultra-religious Catholic community not as crazy fanatics but as faithful followers of rules designed to help them negotiate life’s haphazard roads.Īgnese tags along with mom on one of her charity runs at the Roma camp, and there sees Stefano again. “You live well with limits,” the priest advises, with a tone of genuine affection and a desire to help. Meanwhile, Agnese confesses her transgressions to Father Luca (Stefano Fresi), who tells the troubled teen that the limits her mother sets offer protection.
It’s not a desirable gig - a great shot of the young man seated on a broken-down chair in the middle of the lot, defiantly facing some men in the camp across the way, says everything we need to know about the solitude and boredom of the job, together with the antagonism between him and the people on the other side of the fence. Stefano, 25, is starting a new job anyway, guarding a parking lot next to a Roma camp. Sensing her terror after he catches up, he lets her go. When first seen, Agnese has just stolen a phone from a shopping center and is frantically fleeing security guard Stefano (Simone Liberati).
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Yet Marta doesn’t know how to shift from being the parent of a child to the mother of a teen, and she’s confiscated Agnese’s cellphone over worries that her daughter is sending inappropriate messages. Strict but loving single mom Marta (Barbora Bobulova) isn’t the stereotypical fundamentalist parent, and Agnese (Selene Caramazza), 17, has a relatively normal life within the controlled limits of her church-based school and community. De Paolis’ nonjudgmental depiction of their two worlds has a raw urgency that should find receptive audiences at festivals worldwide. Their unlikely meeting on the periphery of Rome starts a process of self-questioning that leads to both liberation and pain.
Roberto De Paolis’ debut is a story of two marginalized young people afraid of what’s inside themselves: for Agnese, it’s the fear of sin, for Stefano, it’s the fear of powerlessness. Fresh voices in Italian independent cinema constantly struggle against an overwhelming tide of bigger-budgeted, better-distributed mediocrities, so it’s encouraging to see a film like “Pure Hearts” find a major festival berth, where the attention it receives might just filter through back home.
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