Cannes 2009: "Vincere."
If Giovanna Mezzogiorno wants to be Italy's answer to Angelina Jolie, "Vincere" is her "Changeling," and how unfortunate. "Vincere," directed by Marco Bellocchio, is the story of Ida Dalser, the first wife of Benito Mussolini and mother to his first son, Benito Albino Mussolini. By World War I, Mussolini had finished with her and married Rachele Guidi, resorting to a dictator-style divorce of Dalser by taking her child, dumping her in an insane asylum and having all records of their union effaced, save for the marriage certificate she hid, never to be found. Bellocchio does neither the character nor the actress any favors in making Dalser's passion such an amour fou -- in the first few scenes, she falls instantly for the future Il Duce when, at a Socialist meeting, he gives God a five minute window to prove his divine existence by striking Mussolini down. She tracks him to...
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