At the Venice Film Festival, Italian director Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio took home four awards, including the Special Jury Prize and Best Debut Performance. 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, critics around the world rated the film positively and everything would seem perfect — except audience scores tell a different story: 6.9 on IMDb. Why?
The plot of Vermiglio — almost like a Rohrwacher tale
In the snow-covered village of Vermiglio, long forgotten by men of draft age, two deserters arrive. One is local, the other a stranger. It’s the stranger who becomes the film’s quiet hero: he can’t read, but he can listen — and love. The eldest daughter of the local schoolteacher watches him — and in her gaze, a new war begins, this time within.
Vermiglio isn’t about plot — it’s about feeling
Maura Delpero takes her time. Her frames are silent, her characters whisper, the snow creaks like the voice of memory. This pastoral tale is shot with poetic restraint, as if the film itself fears disturbing the stillness of the mountains. Mikhail Krichman’s camera doesn’t dig into the soul — it simply observes. But for viewers used to fast pace and constant action, this slowness may feel excessive.
Who should watch Vermiglio?
Those who love the films of Alice Rohrwacher or Tomasz Wasilewski, and who are drawn to quiet tragedies and luminous hopelessness. Vermiglio isn’t a film for chips-and-cola kind of nights. It’s a film you must enter slowly, like cold water: attentively, patiently, and with trust.
