The 2004 film directed by Gianni Amelio Le chiavi di casa (The Keys to the House) is a very emotional film that deals with illness, family values, and unconditional love. It is a story that any human being can appreciate, no matter where you come from. It is a story of a man who, for the first time in his life, is meeting his fifteen year old son. What sets this story apart from the rest is this man, whose name is Gianni, not only has a fifteen year old son that he has never met, but his son is handicapped with muscular dystrophy. Seeing their relationship develop in the 105 minutes in which the film takes place is very touching to watch. You see these two strangers get to know each other over the course of a short period of time, and you get to see the love they begin to have for one another. Watching them onscreen together is something that touched me. The way that Gianni would look at his son was so full of raw emotion. You could tell as an audience member that he knew he missed a lot of things in Paolo’s life, and he didn’t want to miss anything else ever again. The conversations they have are never ones of importance (they talk about really general things), but even though the topics were not that important, the way they talked to each other was. They were getting to know each other, and it was very emotional to see them do that throughout the film.
This is also a story of forgiveness. When his son was born, Gianni walked out on him. The boy’s mother dies giving birth to him, and when Gianni learns that not only is the mother dead but the child will have many complications for the rest of his
life, he immediately flees. He doesn’t even look at his son before he abandons him. The handicapped child, whose name is Paolo, is raised by his aunt and uncle. He never actually meets his real father until now. When this was all told in the beginning of the story, I wanted to hate the character of Gianni. How can somebody be such a coward and leave their newborn son like that? But as time went on, you can’t help but like Gianni. I wanted him to do well, I wanted him and his son to bond, and I wanted him to become a real father to this wonderful child. Andrea Rossi, the actor who plays Paolo, actually has muscular dystrophy in real life. Watching him on the screen was amazing. He was brilliant in this role, and actually having to live with this disease throughout his whole life made it all that more real and moving. The way these two people interact was something you could not look away from.
Another important character in this film was that of Nicole, played by Charlotte Rampling. She was someone that Gianni met in the hospital, and she too has a mentally and physically handicapped child named Nadine. She and Gianni become fast friends, and she teaches him so much about life and the struggles that are apart of it. She never ran away from her responsibilities as a mother, but she also doesn’t fault Gianni for running away from his. She gives him hope, and she ultimately makes him want to become a better person, for himself and for his son.
In conclusion, this film really spoke to me. Having members of my family that are handicapped (although not as severely as the children in this film), it is nice to see a film about handicapped people without one mean or negative thing said about them. Gianni isn’t afraid anymore of what he must do for his son. He just doesn’t want to see his own flesh and blood in any more pain. (There is even a scene in the film where Paolo is in the hospital getting 
his blood taken, and Gianni has to leave the room). He knows he is new to all of this, but he is willing to do whatever it takes to be there for his child. This is essentially a love story, but not between two adult people, but between and man and the son he never knew. It is a beautiful film.
I also looked online to see what other people thought of the film. It was interesting to see their reactions to it. Here are a few links I found that had some opinions of the film.
rotten tomatoes review of the film
13 comments:
I really liked the sentences “The conversations they have are never ones of importance… but even though the topics were not that important, the way they talked to each other was” and “This is essentially a love story… between and man and the son he never knew” because they sum up the plot of the film very well. The film is beautiful to watch as Gianni and Paolo’s relationship blossoms and Gianni realizes how the joys far outweigh the difficulties of raising Paolo. This film is also refreshing because it depicts parents who are shown as disappointed and frustrated, something I am sure many parents can relate to whether their child has muscular dystrophy or is perfectly healthy.
Not only was this film a love story between father and son, but as you mentioned so succinctly, it was a story of unonditional love. Paolo's innocence and simplicity are two dominating qualities that make a parent fall in love with their child. In most cases, a parent falls in love with their child at birth apon meeting him/her for the first time. In the case of Gianni,naturally,he falls in love apon meeting his son of fifteen for the first time. Gianni is able to look past his son's illness and love him for the innocent boy he truely is. A very lovely and moving film.
I liked how in the blog it related to personal experiences with people who are handicapped. I never really had experiences with anyone who was physically or mentally handicappped. So maybe few people can fully understand what Gianni is going through. But we can all relate to Gianni. We all have faced difficult situations. Some may run away from it, but there are some that will face it head on. Even though most of us don't have a handicapped child like Gianni, we all can still learn something from him. We can learn that we should take on the tough situations life hands us, even if it will lead to tough times. It's those experiances that make us stronger.
First of all, I would like to say that this movie moved me a lot, not because only because it was played by very good actors, but also because it showed a very interesting love story about a father and a child. Even though Paolo was a very sick and handicapped child, he won Gianni's (his father's) heart. With his carisma and innosence, he had a way to show the world that he can be someone, even though he is not like the other people. Paolo was funny and also smart enough to remember people's names. Muscular Distrophy didn't stop Paolo from being a human being.
for me, the most powerful part of the film, as mentioned in the review, is forgiveness. gianni clearly knows he did the wrong thing in abandoning paolo and tries to correct it by coming to take care of him. though he was paolo has friction at a few points, paolo does not hold anything against. the most poignant part for me is the ending where gianni starts to cry and has his breakdown and paolo comforts him. because paolo has gone through more, he is stronger and gives gianni his strength. it's a beautiful moment and an equally beautiful film.
As the film develops and the relationship between Gianni and Paolo grows, it is certain that Gianni loves his son. Paolo’s disabilities require Gianni to be present and help him, even with the most basic tasks. Through the whole film Gianni wanted help his son, whether it was walking or just cutting his food. The director creates an intimate setting between the father and son by capturing Gianni’s gazes with his newly met son, and filming tightly shot scenes. This tender film allows the audience to momentarily enter the life of a person with disabilities and those who selflessly care for them. This film truly captures our hearts as we watch Gianni instantly take on the father role and begin to develop a father son relationship with Paolo.
I totally agree that this movie was about a love story and very beautifully put together. The relationship between father and son was so fantastic, especially because they never met each other. The importance of the film setting to me was also a key role to this relationship because essentially they were stranded in Germany by themselves and had themselves to comfort one another. So from essentially have two strangers having to deal with each other they almost had a chemistry that it seems they've known each other for ever. To me that was the beauty of this film. I enjoyed it very much!
Watching the relationship transform between father and son throughout this movie was so beautiful. Gianni and Paolo are both very strong characters that pull on separate strings of your heart. It's admirable to watch Gianni learn about his son and his disability. He becomes a loving and proud parent that would ultimately do anything for his son. Paolo moves us due to his strength and motivation. He is so innocent, yet he succeeds to teach Gianni valuable lessons about unconditional love and affection. The two of them manage to build an unbreakable bond between eachother, and they leave their audience with heavy hearts.
What I liked most about this film is the sense of narrative progression, without the rush to a final goal. In a classic neorealist approach, the film reveals a touching portrait of a father and son getting to know one another for the first time. What was also remarkable was the contrast of emotional dispositions, where Paolo would be very comfortable while his father was trying to cope with, and reflect upon his new set of circumstances. The final scene with Paolo and Gianni was classic neorealism - an ending without a conclusion.
Nice blog. I liked the story line of the film and it sends different messages to the viewers and makes whoever watches this film understand the important things in life. There are different themes included in the movie, like family, forgiveness, painful past, and also challenges that children born with handicap traits have to face and what parents of these children have to suffer because of the unconditional love they have towards their children or family members. Extremely touching movie and realistic. After you watch it, you realize that important things in life is what you have home every day.
All that said, I feel the ending should have been different (happy ending) since it is a movie. Although, leaving the ending with Gianni in desperation crying to Paolo leaves the viewer with a thought of the character's sadness and keeps the movie in the viewers head. I would have like some background sounds added to the movie in synchronization with the characters and their mood at certain instances.
Overall I liked it and I felt like it made its statement and sent its message very clearly.
This movie was really able to draw most people from the class in. It brought out emotions in all of us. For me, I found it inspiring to see a father wanting to become part of his sons life after that many years. Beyond this, he accepted his son even with his disability which I personally would have a hard time doing. In the end of the film I am glad that they did not leave it on a completely happy note. This will be a struggle for both of them for the rest of their lives and Gianni crying really puts everything into perspective. The acting by everyone in this film was spectacular. I am not normally one to talk about the quality of acting but for me, it really stuck out in this film.
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