This will be short.
Day 2 ended not only with a very bad movie but also with a Venetian shower of the utmost intensity. The entire crowd exiting the Palabiennale got soaked from head to toe (including us). Even umbrellas could not save us, the shower was too strong. A vaporetto full of dripping people with no remains of a hairdo left on their head departed from the Lido back to town. Seen from the outside, it must have been quite a view.
Day 3 however greeted us with the most beautiful sun and blue sky, which was quite a relief, as dispersing papa’s ashes during a Venitian (almost) hurricane did not seem like the most pleasant perspective. Indeed, everyone had warned me: beware of the wind.
I won’t dwell into the details, but we had a beautiful moment surrounded by friends (including the Venetian ones who joined us by surprise) and by the water and the city that we all love(d) so much. Papa is now where he asked to be, I can almost see him floating in the sea with a contented smile on his face singing Matuška’s “plavu si, ani nevim jak, vzdyt nemam prsa, nemam znak, maaaaam jen hlavu plnou ideaaaaalu”. It was a sad but very happy and comforting moment at the same time.
After this, I knew that unless we attend the screening of a masterpiece, it would be hard for me to focus on the evening movie. Sadly, Guadagnino did not produce such a masterpiece (not that I expected it from him, but I still had a little bit of hope… you really never know). Julia Roberts does not do such a bad job in her role as a Yale university professor. I thought it was actually a quite good job. The problem is more on the screenplay (overfilled with words, not well constructed, slow and ultimately just bluntly boring) and the soundtrack (extremely loud and agressive).
Guadagnino could however not spoil the sense of peace and achievement that accompanied me along the whole day.
We did it! Papa is back in Venice!
In memory of my papa, Jan (18/08/1947-30/11/2024)
Klara's cinema 