Status: 28.08.2024 06:00
“Gloria!” is the directorial debut of Italian singer Margherita Vicario. It is somewhat reminiscent of the musical “Stomp” – only in historical garb
Choir girls in simple dresses sing a cappella. In addition, you can see – in rhythm with the music – the strenuous work of the simple maids: polishing a kettle, sweeping the yard, beating wet sheets, scrubbing laundry, chopping celery, clattering cooking utensils. The girls and women live in the Sant Ignazio College at the end of the 18th century, a fictional place based on the four educational institutions near Venice where orphaned girls received musical training and became choir girls to be used in church services. A place that is expecting important visitors:
“I want to organize a concert in honor of Pope Pius VII, and you are writing it. You are still capable of composing.”
“Naturally.”
“And why do we always hear the same thing on Sundays and never anything new?” Film scene
The incompetent and old conductor is supposed to write and conduct the concert in honor of the Pontiff.
The five protagonists of the film are Lucia, Bettina, Marietta, Prudenza – all choir girls – and the supposedly untalented, mute Teresa, who discovers a piano in a storage room and slowly wins the recognition of the other girls through her love of music.
“Gloria!”: A film with a lot of room for interpretation
Completely new (feminine) tones: In an old music school, an extraordinary quartet of young, talented women gather around the musically virtuoso maid Teresa (Galatéa Bellugi).
“Gloria!” – based on Vivaldi’s “Gloria in Excelcis Deo”, which he composed in 1715 in the “Ospedale della Pietà” in Venice, tells a fictional story, but precisely embedded in a historical context, of all those young girls and women who made music but were always in the shadow of famous men. The directorial debut of the Italian singer Margherita Vicario not only plays with the conventions of the historical costume film, but also with the music. Classic meets modern, the young women in the basement discover jazz, there are allusions and references to blues and contemporary Italian pop music. Teresa is a singer-songwriter in the demure and dangerous environment of the Catholic Church for women.
It is above all the sound, the rhythms, the revolutionary-feminine interpretation of music history that make “Gloria!” an event. A film that leaves a lot of room for interpretation about how things could have been if women and girls had been heard back then.
Gloria!
Genre:Drama, History, Music Year of production:2024 Country of production:Italy, Switzerland Additional info:with Galatea Bellugi, Carlotta Gamba, Veronica Lucchesi and others Director:Margherita Vicario Length:124 minutes FSK:from 12 years Cinema release:29 August 2024
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NDR Info | The Morning | 28.08.2024 | 06:00 a.m.
