Film Guide

Secret Journey
Viaggio segreto
2007 Drama 100 mins
Italian with English subtitles

Roberto Andò, director, started his career as assistant to the likes of Federico Fellini and Francis Ford Coppola. In his new film he directs Alessio Boni (“Arrivederci amore ciao”), one of Italy’s most respected actors, and other stellar cast members in a slick psychological thriller based on the novel “The Reconstructionist” by Josephine Hart. Ando has transposed the story from Ireland to Sicily, where colours and memories take on violent hues.

Leo (Boni), a psychoanalyst in his forties lives with his younger sister, Ale (Claudia Gerini). When Harold (played by director Emir Kusturica), a famous and hugely successful artist, announces his intention to marry Ale – and as a wedding present, to buy back the family’s ancestral home – Leo becomes desperate to prevent the transaction and returns to his native Sicily to confront a past he had long ago cut out of his life.

Andò provocatively layers parallel stories as the steady build-up of action moves towards a dangerous conclusion. Leo, whose life thus far has seen him alleviate other people’s suffering, is now compelled to look inside himself to reconstruct the shattered pieces of his past.

“Ando’s film is an intensely passionate story” Il Tempo.

“A Freudian reverie with one hell of an Electra Complex that impresses on a visual level.” Jay Weissberg, Variety

Winner 2007 Nastri D’Argento: Best Cinematographer

Director: Roberto Andò
Cast: Alessio Boni, Emir Kusturica, Claudia Gerini, Donatella Finocchiaro, Valeria Solarino, Marco Baliani.
Rating: M contains violence and nudity