It’s easier for a camel

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

110 minutes

French

2003

Art house, drama

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Chiara Mastroianni, Jean Hugues Anglade, Denis Podalydes, Roberto Herlitzka, Marisa Borsini

Gemini

Piccola Cooperativa Gagè

Interlinea film

Megan, a successful Irish artist, lives in Dublin with her husband Leo, an Italian who emigrated several years ago. After receiving the news of Leo’s uncle death – Monsignor Domenico, a powerful catholic priest – the couple is forced to go to Apulia to handle the unexpected inheritance that Leo received.

Leo’s intention is to sell the ancient inherited palace to his brother Nicola, the towns’ priest. After their arrival in Apulia, Leo gets in touch with his old friends and rediscovers a world that had almost forgotten. Megan is enchanted by the beauty of the places and the ancient family palace. They decide to stay for the summer.

As a little girl, Federica fantasized about having beautiful long hair that would grow back as soon as she cut it, about never-ending cones of cotton candy and about countless adventures that took her to the far side of the world. Now a charming thirty-something-single woman, Federica’s fantasies have evolved, adding lovers, stardom, and motherhood to her waking dreams, where Federica continues to press for her everyday life to be as real as the fantasies that invade her. Unfortunately, Federica’s daydreams can only provide a meager distraction from the reality she faces. Her career as a successful playwright is heading south, her boyfriend is pressuring her to start a family, a former lover wishes to rekindle an old affair, her sister is barely talking to her, her brother is self-centered and her loving father is terminally ill. And as if to make matters worse, Federica is rich, too rich, and the guilt that consumes her because of it is pushing her over the edge. As Federica struggles to find meaning in her life, she wrestles with her feelings about death and responsibility. She alleviates the added weight of the haunting guilt that her wealth derives through her vivid imagination, where her reality grows wonderful and, if only fleetingly, gives her the sense that all is perfect in her world.

Moscow International Film Festival 2003 – Nominated

Prix Louis Delluc 2003 – Awarded best first film

Tribeca Film Festival 2003 – Awarded as Best Actress and as Best New Narrative Filmmaker

Ankara Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival 2004 – Awarded

César Awards, France 2004 – Nominated Best First Work of Fiction (Meilleure première oeuvre de fiction)

Golden Graals 2005 – Nominated Best Comedic Director

Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists 2005 – Nominated Best New Director