by Mark Demetrius
Worth: $12.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Umberto Orsini, Yalie Turk, Margherita Buy, Birba the dog
Intro:
… very easy on the eye …
The premise of Trifole (Truffles) is straightforward. An old man — and expert truffle forager — called Igor (veteran actor Umberto Orsini) lives in Piedmont, Italy, accompanied only by his beloved little dog, the cute and scene-stealing Birba. Igor is evidently on the decline, and to add to his problems, he’s facing possible eviction for being chronically behind on his mortgage payments. His English granddaughter Dalia (Ydalie Turk — also the co-writer) is despatched, rather reluctantly, to look after him, and Igor talks crazily — but supposedly lyrically and poetically — to her about Jupiter, the moon and the “witch of the woods”, who can turn people into a giant truffle.
Igor’s eccentricities aside, this looks like just being a fairly predictable and gentle saga about the bonding of two unlikely people. For quite a long time — rather TOO long, in fact — the pace is very slow, even well after Dalia heads off (with Birba) to take up the task of finding some truffles herself. The biggest ones can sell for an unbelievably high price.
What eventually ensues involves a major change of mood and pace, and … well, that would be telling. Suffice to say that it incorporates nefarious behaviour and a colourful and arcane medieval tradition.
Trifole is not the first film on the subject of truffle hunting, nor the best. Its gorgeous rural setting means that it’s very easy on the eye — an obvious plus in a visual medium like cinema. And its essential strangeness means that you won’t forget it in a hurry, but that in itself doesn’t make it any great shakes. Still, the way the movie changes from a simple story into something almost surreal does salvage it — more or less.
