«Dalida», the great biopic of the decade

Cinema Wednesdays - Loris S. Musumeci

«Io ti chiedo, io ti prego
Un po’ d'amore, un po’ d'amore per me »

(«I'm asking you, I'm begging you
A little love, a little love for me»)

Pace's text to Hayward's music opens the great biographical film of the year, if not the decade. «A little love», that's what Dalida asked for all her life.

Everyone knows this one approximately. Iolanda Gigliotti was born in Cairo in 1933 to a family of Italian migrants. In 1954, she flew to Paris. From one cabaret to another, she was quickly spotted, until she landed on the stage of the Olympia in 1956. A legend was born. Successes accumulated, the heart marveled at the approach of a first love. Of a second love. A third love. And so on. A star of song, she is profoundly unhappy. Her lovers come and go, dying in the abyss of a regretted past. In 1987, Dalida committed suicide, unable to bear her tragic life any longer.

A tragedy, that's what Lisa Azuelos' tribute to Dalida is all about. And an honored memory it is. The film is indeed a real success. But that doesn't make it a cinematic masterpiece.

Technically, the film is embarrassingly short. The cuts are dry, reducing the sequences to episodes. However, this does not apply to the whole film. The fact remains, however, that this aspect hurts the viewing experience of a show that aims to be free of superficiality.

The choice of actors ran the same risk of biographical overview, rather than spiritual penetration. One might have feared that the roles would be well acted, well mimed. Fortunately, this was not the case. Sveva Alviti, transforming herself into Dalida, was able to move without caricaturing, especially in the second half of the film. As much as the gestures of a Gigi l'amoroso seems to border on the tastelessly artificial, as much as that of the I'm sick triggers a painful shower of tears. Listening to a song like this is still addictive, but in the context of the «biopic» it provides an impressive link between the text performed and the experience. If the actress had exaggerated, the scene in question would have been a mess, and so would the rest of the film.

As for the stages of the Egyptian beauty's dramatic existence, although rapid, they are correctly ordered. That is, the appearances are precisely not chronological. The first image in the biography combs the hair of the woman preparing for death, then moves on to the Virgin Mary. From then on, the whole story will allude to these initial scenes: the joyful bitterness and tragic hope of a woman. Dalida.

«Life is unbearable for me,
forgive me.»

Write to the author : loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: Dalida Official Website