First Love is a 2004 film directed by Matteo Garrone

Matteo Garrone

Matteo Garrone is an Italian film maker.Born in Rome, the son of a theatre critic, Nico Garrone and a photographer, in 1996 Garrone won the Sacher d'Oro, an award sponsored by Nanni Moretti, with the short film Silhouette, that became one of the three episodes that are on his first long film ...

 and Massimo Gaudioso, based on a novel by Marco Mariolini. The film deals with anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...

. This film has not been rated by the MPAA.

Plot

Vittorio (Vitaliano Trevisan) is a goldsmith looking for a very thin woman to make golden figurines of. He meets a model, Sonia (Michela Cescon), whom he finds too fat. Somehow he manages to convince her to lose weight to an unhealthy degree. No one wants to buy Vittorio's figurines of Sonia, and his goldsmith shop is repo'd. Vittorio discovers food Sonia has sneaked in and beats her up. She tries to kill him but fails.

Awards

The score won Banda Osiris the 2004 Silver Berlin Bear for Best Film Music. The band won at other festivals, too. At the Flaiano Film Festival

Flaiano Film Festival

The Flaiano Film Festival is one of Italy International Film Festivals. It involves a lot because the city is conducted through a survey that takes about one month , with the presentation of films in competition and out of competition, allowing the participation of thousands of spectators...

, Michela Cescon won for Best Actress and Marco Onorato won for Best Cinematography.

Reception

The film "has been described as “a horror movie about desire,” which seems fitting." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

finds this film "an elegantly told tale of obsession that, in failing to take on any larger meaning, rapidly becomes depressing to watch." Thomas and others are confused as to "why she [Sonia] strives so mightily to please someone so obviously insane." The Italian Wikipedia finds the film "crude" and its characters lacking in "profundity."