Primavera Review: Vivaldi Biopic Fails to Strike a Chord
The 300th anniversary of Antonio Vivaldi's iconic Four Seasons passed with minimal fanfare last year, but Italy quietly released Primavera, a well-intentioned yet ploddingly stately film adaptation of Tiziano Scarpa's prizewinning novel Stabat Mater. This period musical biopic imagines a musically inspired affair between the composer and a brilliant teenage violinist, but it ultimately falls flat with lifeless staging and uninteresting performances.
A School-of-Salieri Production
Opera director Damiano Michieletto makes his underpowered cinema debut here, and the entire film can only be described as belonging to the school of Salieri. With its laughably naive ending and lackluster execution, Primavera struggles to captivate audiences. The film features fragments of music meant to represent early drafts of the Four Seasons evolving in Vivaldi's mind, but exasperatingly, the inspirationally catchy masterpiece itself is withheld until the final credits.
Uninspired Performances and Staging
Michele Riondino laboriously portrays Vivaldi, constantly coughing into his handkerchief without delivering the piteous death expected in such narratives. Tecla Insolia plays the fictional Cecilia, a demure orphan-girl musician at Venice's Ospedale della Pietà, dressed in Handmaid's Tale-like outfits and performing for the simperingly bewigged elite of Venice. The film's staging is notably lifeless, failing to breathe energy into the historical setting.
A Bland Handling of Drama
Disaster looms as Cecilia faces being married off to a nobleman, which would end her musical pursuits. In a moment of raunchy jeopardy, she considers flunking a virginity test to stay in the orphanage, but this is prissily soft-pedaled by the film. Even the brutal violence that ensues is handled blandly, and the movie quickly returns to its earnest and pious solemnity, missing opportunities for emotional depth.
Primavera is set to be released in UK cinemas from 24 April, but based on this review, it may struggle to resonate with viewers seeking a vibrant and engaging biopic. The film's adaptation of Scarpa's novel fails to translate the novel's potential into cinematic success, leaving audiences with a forgettable experience.
