The Year Of The Egg

A pregnant couple joining a cultish community sounds like the set-up for either a horror, a satire or both but Claudio Casale treats the subject with a studious seriousness in Year Of The Egg - an approach which means he retains a strong grip on the film’s mood although the whole thing ends up being rather too measured for its own good.

Gemma (Yile Vianello) and Adriano (Andrea Palma) are expecting their first child and have decided to join the Egg Community, run by Guru Rajani, which offers them a sort of New Age blend of beliefs and a place of retreat during pregnancy and the first three months after birth. Each couple is presented with a golden egg that looks like something you might receive from the Easter bunny, although it’s clear that there will be little gainsaying in a community that desperately wants to believe.

Gemma is definitely more into the proceedings than Adriano and Casale allows us to slip into her subconscious as she meditates. A sort of high-colour celular world that pulses and flows like the contents of an elaborate lava lamp. There is something disturbing here but it hovers in the background. Through the day, meanwhile, the couples have yoga sessions and spiritual talks from Guru Rajani (Regina Orioli), while sharing meals in silence and swapping fears and hopes over the dishes.

If some of the story is predictable that is mainly down to the tight focus of the script from Casale and his co-writers Claudio De Angelis and Milo Tissone, which means narrative has a tendency to play second fiddle to atmosphere. There’s a compelling dreaminess to much of the shooting style, particularly in scenes in which Gemma and Adriano share their innermost thoughts with each other in the grounds of the community alone. Casale also isn’t afraid of letting the frame intrude into the characters faces either and often draws very close to let their faces fill the frame - although the script issues mean they remain emotionally at arm’s length. There are also little things that rankle. Not least, why there are no couples with babies present in the community at all, given that people are supposed to remain there after the birth and presuming everyone here did not fall pregnant on the same day.

There are no such problems with the performances. Vianello, who was compelling in The Beautiful Summer earlier this year, continues to impress with her ability to convey her characters’ emotions above and beyond the script and Palma plays Adriano with a sweet earnestness that works well.

The film is one of this year’s Biennale College films at Venice Film Festival - microbudget films that are supported through their production over the course of a year specifically by the festival. That timescale is, in itself, an achievement but it may also explain why elements of the story feel underdeveloped, including an ending which though adding a full stop to proceedings raises more questions than the film seems prepared to answer.