Respiro poster

Respiro (2002)

Directed by Emanuele Crialese · Comedy, Drama

Starring Valeria Golino, Vincenzo Amato, Francesco Casisa, Veronica D'Agostino, Filippo Pucillo, Muzzi Loffredo, Elio Germano, Avy Marciano, Giuseppe Del Volgo, Matteo Solina, Vincenzo Barreca, Pasquale De Rubels, Donatella Battiali, Andrea Barreca, Francesco Edoardo Anglieri, Domenico Amato

IHBM7 IMDb7.0 RT77% MC65 Trakt71% TMDb6.6Good

Grazia is a free-spirited mother-of-three married to shy fisherman Pietro and living on the idyllic but isolated island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea. She shows signs of manic depressive behavior one moment she's laughing wildly and swimming half-naked in the sea, while the next she's curled in a ball on her bed. Out of her earshot, the adult members of her extended family vaguely discuss sending her to a facility of some sort in Northern Italy.

My review · Reviewed 12/25/2025

A tight story about a mother with severe mental issues, and how those issues affect the people around her. The two leads probably make the film a tad better than it may deserve to be.