Disappearance

NAME OF FILM: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MY MOTHER (2019)

DIRECTOR(S): Beniamino Barrese

STARRING: Carlotta Antonelli, Beniamino Barrese, Benedetta Barzini

GENRE: Documentary Film

SYNOPSIS: Iconic 1960s supermodel Benedetta—muse to the likes of Warhol, Dali, and Avedon— spent her life in front of the camera. But now, at the age of 75, she wants nothing more than to disappear; the radical feminist has become fed up with all the roles and descriptions that were forced upon her. But her son Beniamino has other ideas in mind, wanting to make a movie about his mother despite his unwilling subject. Perhaps as a misguided act of love and affection, perhaps as an attempt at liberation, he continues to film his reluctant and poignantly relatable protagonist to tumultuous and revealing results. Engrossing and perplexing, this tender and poetic look at a mother and son gives us a complex portrait of a woman staring down, with unflinching resolve, the oppression of the male gaze.