Fairytale

By: Amos Lassen

"FAIRYTALE"
A Perfect Home
Amos Lassen
Set in the United States in the 50s, "Fairytale" is the story Mr(s). Fairytale (Filippo Timi) who spends her days locked in her dream home. She lives in a surreal world where anyone can finally be who they want to among stuffed poodles, whiskey-infused teas, sinful mambo lessons, and threats of alien invasion. She loves housework, conversations with a stuffed poodle and strange encounters with her friend Emerald (Lucia Mascino). Tired of her husband and the monotonous life she leads, Miss Fairytale would like something different, but suddenly an unexpected change breaks her life.

"Fairytale" is the directing debut of the writer Sebastiano Mauri, artistic and life partner of Filippo Timi, the writer and star of the film. Mrs. Fairytale becomes aware of her own unhappiness and begins a process of personal liberation, helped and supported by her friend Mrs. Emerald. The two women meet every day to share their lives, which are only apparently tranquil, characterized in reality by domestic violence, infidelity and depression. Then exactly halfway through the film, the unthinkable happens. In a world which does not allow for such a situation, the two friends fall in love.


The 1950s are the perfect setting for a story of liberation from social constraints in an imaginary place where everything goes, and makes us smile remembering the threat of UFOS, Communism, guns in the living room and the other reminders of how it used to be. Costumes and sets are absolutely fundamental in this liberally-reconstructed 1950s American world.

Mrs. Fairytale's spacious home looks just like in the films from the golden era of Hollywood with Doris Day as an essential point of reference, but also Alfred Hitchcock (Mrs. Emerald is extremely blonde and apparently like his classic heroines), vivid colors and 1950s shapes, including red carpet, brightly patterned wallpaper with pink flamingos on a blue background, and wood paneling. The rooms of the home are connected through openings which, when filmed straight on, become a dizzying tunnel, as if to show that even in what seems apparently perfect, a nightmare is hidden.

The costumes, the result of the precious collaboration with Fabio Zambernardi, the director of design for Miu Miu and Prada, are wonderful with sheath dresses and transparent plastic raincoats for Mrs. Emerald. The film is based on the theatrical show of the same name, on a subject by Filippo Timi who also edited the screenplay with the director. We see a melancholy and bewildered comedy, set in deliberately artificial kitsch aesthetic. The sumptuous and exaggerated staging turns into an imaginary of bright colors, between furnishings and wallpaper. It is impossible not to think of a Douglas Sirk melodrama, but we are actually closer to Wes Anderson.

The irony is unique: the protagonist Filippo Timi as Fairytale moves in a dollhouse between female speeches and unexpected encounters. The film tries to reason and reflect differently on the gender issue and on the reaffirmation of identity but despite the extreme lightness of the tones and the atmospheres, the film does not find the right key to appear irreverent, carefree or inspiring.

Sebastiano Mauri tries to mix different cinema ideas, suggestions and genres; but humor, instead of irreverent, ends up being harmless.