Skip to content
1981
Volume 13, Issue 4
  • ISSN: 2047-7368
  • E-ISSN: 2047-7376

Abstract

This article explores Alice Rohrwacher’s aesthetic vision in (), a short film shot during the 2020 pandemic. In this work, Rohrwacher portrays herself in isolation at her countryside home, striving to capture her surroundings and the people in her life through an old video camera, her only tool. The formal constraints resolve into a new artistic approach, rooted in naturalness and stylistic regression. Thus, techniques defined by subtraction and imperfection – avoidance of direct sound recording, of high-definition imagery and of image-stabilizing tools – are paired with a tight focus on an environmental microcosm and the erasure of boundaries between filmmaker and narrative. Both the narrative and directorial voices overlap within a voice-over explicitly directed towards the exploration of natural and human landscapes. The result is a brief yet deeply impactful coming-of-age story, an exemplary manifesto for a new ecology of representation.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic to the Palacký University Olomouc (Award IGA_FF_2024_011)
© 2025 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jicms_00323_1
2025-08-23
2026-04-16

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Amaba, Roberto (2022), ‘Imágenes para una pandemia. Cuatro strade, de Alice Rohrwacher’, in Shangrila, Special Issue: ‘La nave va’, 40, https://www.shangrila-blog.com/2022/06/v-la-nave-va-revista-shangrila-n-40.html. Accessed 4 December 2024.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Berleant, Arnold (2019), ‘Preface’, in A. V. Serrão and M. Reker (eds), Philosophy of Landscape: Think, Walk, Act, Lisbon: University of Lisbon, pp. 9–10.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Bonfiglioli, Matteo (2021), ‘Alice Rohrwacher: Quattro strade’, Cineforum, 21 May, https://www.cineforum.it/recensione/Quattro-strade. Accessed 4 December 2024.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Buell, Lawrence (2005), The Future of Environmental Criticism: Environmental Crisis and Literary Imagination, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Careri, Francesco (2002), Walkscapes: Walking as an Aesthetic Practice, Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Glotfelty, Cheryll (2015), ‘Prefazione’, in S. Iovino (ed.), Ecologia letteraria: Una strategia di sopravvivenza, Milan: Edizioni Ambiente, pp. 9–10.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Iovino, Serenella (2013), ‘Ecocritica: teoria e pratica’, in C. Salabè (ed.), Ecocritica: La letteratura e la crisi del pianeta, Rome: Donzelli, pp. 17–25.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Rohrwacher, Alice (2020), Quattro strade, Italy: Avventurosa.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Rohrwacher, Alice (2023), Dopo il cinema: Le domande di una regista, Rome: Edizioni e/o.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Rohrwacher, Alice and Ziruffo, Lida (2022), La buona strada, Milan: Mondadori.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Salabè, Caterina (2013), ‘Introduzione’, in C. Salabè (ed.), Ecocritica: La letteratura e la crisi del pianeta, Rome: Donzelli, pp. XI–XVI.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Scaffai, Niccolò (2017), Letteratura e ecologia: Forme e temi di una relazione narrativa, Rome: Carocci.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Slovic, Scott (2013), ‘Translocalità: La nozione di luogo nell’ecocritica contemporanea’, in C. Salabè (ed.), Ecocritica: La letteratura e la crisi del pianeta, Rome: Donzelli, pp. 27–39.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Stanzione, Davide (2021), ‘Quattro strade di Alice Rohrwacher su Mubi: L’isolamento e la dolce tenacia dello sguardo’, Long Take, 27 May, https://www.longtake.it/news/quattro-strade-di-alice-rohrwacher-lisolamento-e-la-tenacia-dello-sguardo-nel-cortometraggio-su-mubi. Accessed 4 December 2024.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/jicms_00323_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): anthropic space; COVID-19 pandemic; ecocriticism; ecological relationships; geographical identity; low-technology tools; narrative minimalism; stylistic regression

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test