Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: FUORI [Cannes Film Festival 2025 - Cannes, France]

Women in prison movies are not new. There is a whole subgenre that is attached to it. "Fuori" [Cannes Premire] tries to find intention in the basis of danger that draws these women. There is a freedom in their psychology despite their violent acts. This gestates inpiration in a particular way for a writer Goliarda Sapienza who steals on purpose and finds herself in a prison trying to identify those qualities that appeal to her. Valeria Golino plays the older writer with a spunk but also a naivete. She seems transfixed by a junkie Roberta (Matilda De Angelis) who seems to be freer than anyone on the outside though she keeps committing crimes and can't stop herself. Roberta has a beauty to her that one knows will eventually be utterly crushed by her own doing.

At first the film paints Roberta as Sapienza's daughter but it is not made quite clear untl later in the movie that this is not the case but it is done so on purpose because the women need each other in certain ways though the way they express it is both different and hard for them to admit. The film jumps back and forth from the prison to the aftermath but the switch up can be jarring because it does so without warning. Eventually the rhythm shifts in. Goliarda does have a husband but he seems to be always gone on film sets. Her needs are scattered but in truth she feels most alive being around these women who know the danger they are presented with but continue on anyways. They call her "weird" but she wants to be a part of it and yet not. The scenes do have power but more so on the outside since they seem to be teetering on the edge.

One takes place in a perfume shop on the edge of town which also tends to have a full size bathroom with a shower which creates a parallel to the women's prison. It is meant to be irony but it doesn't quite get there and yet it has its own connection to what it is trying to personify. Another is near the finale of the movie in a coffee/bar where certain raw emotions come to light. The scene perfectly encapulsates everytihn that came before it. The tone is just right with a slight whiff of uncomfortabiliity which makes the end of the film much more poignant. "Fuori" takes a while to get going and is disjointed in many ways but ultimately finds its footing. That said, in many ways it takes way too long getting done with its front end structure which takes a little while to get used to. But De Angelis and Golino with their lyrical and sometimes primal performances keep the energy together even if their characters don't quite know what they want. B

By Tim Wassberg