Primavera (Vivaldi and Me)

Dir: Damiano Michieletto, Italy/France, 2025, Drama, Music.
Tecla Insolia, Michele Riondino, Andrea Pennacchi, Fabrizia Sacchi.
In Italian and French with English subtitles.
Winner of 9 Donatello Awards including Best Music and Best Costumes.
“A picturesque backdrop of 18th-century Venice, a beautiful orphan, a baroque classical score featuring the music of Vivaldi – Primavera is a crowd-pleasing, prestige period drama of the kind that has fallen from favour of late. But the appeal of such handsome, romantic productions persists. Primavera tells the story of Cecilia, a spirited foundling raised from infancy at the Pio Ospedale della Pietà orphanage in Venice. The most talented girls are trained in music, and this young violinist is one of the brightest stars of the institution’s chamber orchestra. But it’s not until Antonio Vivaldi joins as the music master that Cecilia, with his encouragement, takes her own potential seriously. Unfortunately, she has been promised as a wife for a raffish nobleman, and for girls like Cecilia, marriage means the end of music. This is a gorgeously designed production, tallow candlelight bringing a velvety quality to the forbidding stone walls of the orphanage. Even the girls' simple dresses – dove grey for everyday wear, deep crimson for performances – are ravishingly lovely... Escapism at its most elegant.” – Wendy Ide, The Observer

Genre: Drama

Runtime: 110 min

Rating: 14A