From Love to Love
Procido falls in love with the first girl with which he loses his virginity to, a prostitute. His bisexual best friend and roommate, along with the occasional lover, initiate him to a strange sex education.
“Titillating, thought provoking, incredibly funny. From Love to Love is a joy of eroticism and neuroticism”
In Depth with the Director - Davide Maria Quarracino
Tell us a little about yourself and your background in filmmaking
I became interested in writing for film about six or seven years ago. I hung out with group of friends who were mostly actors. They were a great group, always full of ideas and concepts for films, but none were writers. I just kind of started doing it. I was a poet at the time, having recently published my first book of poems.
How did L'amore degli altri first come together as a project?
L'amore degli altri was from from an experience I had with an ex’s camp in Napoli. She was a gypsy. That’s where I met her friend who she shared camp with. She told the following story.
A client had told her: “I won’t hit you and I won’t beat you, but I‘ll fuck you enough to fill your house with children, then I’ll go away.”
It was admittedly a peculiar thing to hear, but that was just the beginning. She talked about how he’d fallen in love with her and a lot of other things. The girls spoke for hours then. I drank and smoked and mostly listened. I learned a lot that night. I never really forgot it. That was the origin of the film.
Your film highlights sex, intimacy, prostitution. Subjects that many people find confronting or taboo. How do you approach a film with such delicate themes?
There are a lot of guys among us who cant get laid. They’re grateful for prostitutes. If the subject is taboo it doesn’t change their truth. I approach the film from their point of view and as their champion.
Your cast all have such strong performances, from the vulnerability of Francesco Russo's Procido to the strength of Alice Generali's Sara. How much direction did you give for each character to fit your script?
We spent a lot of time together and worked on the project a lot as a family. We even ate and cooked together. We were all friends, I learned to appreciate their talents as we went along, after knowing each other so well it was became easy to direct them. When the time came they mostly just knew what to do.
The conversation and interplay between characters almost feel like a stage production. Did your experience writing plays influence this film?
Yes L’amore degli altri has a stage production feel, but my experience writing for stage had no influence. I hadn’t written my first play by that time. But I love theatre. I was really influenced as a spectator - Rome is full of theatres. It was easy to spend all my free time in them. I take more inspiration although from poetry: Ritsos, Mandelstam, Anne Sexton, Rene Char, Seferis, and other italian poets and novelists. That being said, I also take inspiration from the drunken words of a bum outside a liquor store, or something I saw a bathroom stall at a highway rest stop. Inspiration is everywhere.
What was the biggest challenge in making this film?
Money was the biggest challenge in making this film? We didn’t have any.
What projects are coming for you in the future?
I’m working on another film now.
Do you have any message for our Melbourne audience?
Please tell the Melbourne audience that I’d like to meet them; all of them!