The invisible thread: “Even homogenitorial families are imperfect”

We are so surrounded by what the Americans would call “pride washing” that we forget that same-parent couples and families are not sepia-colored postcards immune to quarrels, breakups and distortions, but very normal people who suffer, make mistakes and stumble like everyone. The invisible threadthe new film by Marco Simon Puccioni produced by Viola Prestieri and Valeria Golino out 21st, 22nd and 23rd February at the cinema and 4th March on Netflix, he reminds us of it with a mix of irony and reflection by telling us about it the story of Simone and Paolo, two men very close to celebrating their 25th anniversary but also the parents of Leone, 16, born thanks to Tilly, an American woman who helped the couple to bring him into the world. Despite the appearance of the happy family that everyone believes it is, between Simone and Paolo, respectively interpreted by the very good Francesco Scianna and Filippo Timisomething cracks: the shadow of a betrayal threatens the idyll to such an extent that it will be necessary to find out whose son Leo actually is, who has the face of Francesco Gheghialready seen in the delightful film by Stefano Cipriani My brother chases dinosaursto restore order and clarity.

“It is a film that comes from life lived and from the desire to tell about parenthood in general”, says the director who, The invisible threadhe tried to investigate above all the psyche of a teenager who, despite what some senators of the Italian Right think, did not report any trauma from being raised by two men. The paradox, however, for Puccioni is simple, and passes from the right to exist in the moment in which it encounters bankruptcy. Beyond the complexity of his family situation, Leo also experiences a not insignificant existential conflict: he falls in love for the first time, and not with a boy, but with a girl whom he seeks attention and who has the face of a young woman. Giulia Maenza who, as Gheghi explains, has become his companion even in real life. If adolescence is itself the stage of discovery and realization, the film sheds a light on the “invisible thread” that binds Leo to his fathers and to all those who wanted his birthdeepening a reflection that, beyond the tones of the comedy, cannot fail to make us reflect.

“It is a love letter to all the boys so that they may be as they are”, adds Gheghi. “Looking into the relationship between these two dads, you realize that they live like all assholes. We are human beings, after all, “jokes Filippo Timi supported by Francesco Scianna, who thinks that the role of Simone has, in some way, given meaning to her career and her path: “It’s nice to experience discomfort as a human being in interpreting this story. And it is terrible to think that he is not free to express himself as he wants ». The strength of this family on the verge of disintegration, as well as that at the center of The goddess of luck by Ferzan Özpetek, it is that degree of fallibility that makes it true and three-dimensional: «They are like all the others. Two people killed by the commitment to be parents and human beings. They fight, they get angry, they make a mess. But, precisely for this reason, they live and have the right to exist », Puccioni comments, and we could not agree more.

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