LE QUATTRO VOLTE (Michelangelo Frammartino). 88 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (June 3) at the Cumberland. See listing Rating: NNNN
Le Quattro Volte takes its title from the mathematician/philosopher Pythagoras, who theorized that all humans have four lives that fit within each other: man, animal, mineral and vegetable.
Michelangelo Frammartino’s delightfully odd little drama explores that notion literally, following a soul through four different incarnations. Beginning as a human – specifically, an ailing Calabrian goat herder played by Giuseppe Fuda – our subject is reincarnated in three other forms best left unspecified.
Le Quattro Volte is a world removed from Bill Forsyth’s insistently whimsical Being Human, in which Robin Williams played five different characters throughout human history. Frammartino’s goals are very different, and he gives us the space to consider his existential questions quite seriously.
He’s still out to entertain, though. Le Quattro Volte may grapple with big issues – the biggest, really – but it’s a lovely piece of cinema with a striking visual sensibility, a sly sense of humour and a terrific cast of human and animal actors. Seriously, Fuda’s border collie deserves his own feature.
