Italian Film Festival: "The Girl By The lake"

The fourth film in the 2nd annual Italian Film Festival could hardly be a greater departure from the light comedies that preceded it. "The Girl By The Lake" (directed by Andrea Molaioli) is a dark look at the murkier aspects of human nature, the story of a detective whose investigation of a grim murder in a lakeside Italian town is almost a relief because it lets him get his mind off his own depressing life. It might not exactly be Italian noir, but a lot of the time it sure has that same feel.

As "The Girl By The Lake" ("La Ragazzo Del Lago") opens, the disappearance of a six-year old girl in a small lakeside Italian town summons a detective from Milan to investigate. The disappearance is solved and the girl found safe in very short order, but while the officer is still in town the body of a young girl is found next to the lake, and his investigation into this case uncovers a lot of painful personal secrets among the town's citizens and puts his own life in danger. The detective also finds some uncomfortable parallels between the case, the people he's investigating, and some of the unpleasant facts of his own life.

This is absolutely a detective story, no question about it, and a murder mystery. But it is NOT one of those formulaic stories that's not about anything else. Much like even the light comedies previously reviewed here (but unlike most of the Hollywood product in similar genres) there's always something else going on as well. As the detective looks into the lives of various suspects, including the murdered girl's boyfriend, he reveals some uncomfortable truths about the strained relationships between parents and children, between men and women, and between the old and the young. He also finds that there are some members of the town that are not as eager as others to have the case resolved. Is this because they had something to do with the killing, or because they don't want him to uncover some other things they'd just as well remain hidden?

Without making a too-obvious parallel out of it, I liked how the film tied in elements of the investigation to the detective's own life. His wife has been hospitalized with severe Alzheimer's and no longer recognizes him or their daughter, and his daughter intensely resents him for his perceived lack of devotion to her mother since she was hospitalized. When he sees the intensely angry and hatefull feelings between parents and children in the course of his investigation, he has some painful questions to deal with about whether he's been shutting out his own child in a similar manner because of her resentments. Like I said, it's not a hit-you-over-the-head-with-it kind of thing, but it doesn add a little depth and subtext to the story.

Anyone remember an Italian actress named Valeria Golino who made a brief splash in American films back in the late 80's and early 90's? You might recall her as the love interest of Tom Cruise in "Rain Man" or of Charlie Sheen in the very silly "Hot Shots" movies. After having lost track of her for some 15 years now, I was surprised to see her turn up in "The Girl By The Lake" as the mother of the murdered girl's boyfriend... especially since she doesn't look more than a few years at most older than she did in "Rain Man" some 22 years ago. She turns in a fine, realistic performance as a concerned mother who isn't quite completely convinced that her son is totally innocent.

Anyone who doesn't automatically shy away from some of the darker aspects of human nature and can appreciate a good, twisty, complex detective story should be able to enjoy "The Girl By The Lake". It's comfortably within one of the classic genres of motion pictures, even as it stretches the boundaries of that genre from time to time. This was another one of those cases that makes me a little sad for all the vast members of the American moviegoing public who just cannot or will not accomodate themselves to the notion of sub-titles. They're only cheating themselves out of countless films that they would really enjoy. And fans of good murder mysteries will definitely enjoy "The Girl By The Lake".