Bertolucci's Me and You traces the hero Lorenzo's (Jacopo Olmo Antinori) change from his first appearance to the last. In the first we see only his mass of snaky black hair until he briefly raises his pimpled, bitter, angry face. He's at a session with a psychiatrist, considering what's "normal" when he apparently abandoned a friend who needed his help. In the freeze frame that closes the film Lorenzo is smiling, exuberant, and his skin seems to have started clearing up.
In between the 14-year-old has connected to his addict half-sister Olivia (Tea Falco) and helped her go cold turkey. He makes her promise to stay off drugs. She makes him promise to stop hiding from life. Though she buys some hash after making that promise, she doesn't use it. In any case it's not her earlier heroin. Like epic heroes Olivia and Lorenzo both journey through the basement underground, surviving that hell to emerge renewed and empowered
The title -- Me and You -- echoes through the film. Lorenzo's mother says it on the phone to his father, summarizing their exclusion from his confidence. Olivia uses it to express their connection. Perhaps Bertolucci uses it to share with us his memory or sense of the "normal" adolescent agonies. Like the film the title is an old master's embrace of the afflicted. For more see www.yacowar.blogspot.com.
In between the 14-year-old has connected to his addict half-sister Olivia (Tea Falco) and helped her go cold turkey. He makes her promise to stay off drugs. She makes him promise to stop hiding from life. Though she buys some hash after making that promise, she doesn't use it. In any case it's not her earlier heroin. Like epic heroes Olivia and Lorenzo both journey through the basement underground, surviving that hell to emerge renewed and empowered
The title -- Me and You -- echoes through the film. Lorenzo's mother says it on the phone to his father, summarizing their exclusion from his confidence. Olivia uses it to express their connection. Perhaps Bertolucci uses it to share with us his memory or sense of the "normal" adolescent agonies. Like the film the title is an old master's embrace of the afflicted. For more see www.yacowar.blogspot.com.