"For a refreshingly honest and original look at the effects of drugs on real people, this is a real standout" - FilmCritic.com
Filmed in California and Rome and southern Spain, the film, through candid family interviews, chronicles filmmaker Tao Ruspoli's family's longtime submission to heroin and opium. Ruspoli interviews his father, Prince Dado Ruspoli, mother actress Debra Berger, and younger brother Bartolomeo about their addiction and recovery.
Powerful in its poetry and frankness. Ruspoli's interviewing is skilled in its subtlety and sincerity asking difficult questions with a heart.
There's substance here and poetry - Ruspoli's father quotes a bit about Cocteau that blew me away - "I saved the man but killed the poet" - and Ruspoli never strays from the thematic thread. Dado Ruspoli - what a character. I was glad to have met a bit of the legend. And Ruspoli's mother - an artist who offered another insightful facet to the addiction that the Ruspoli family knew so intimately for so long. The perspectives are interwoven seamlessly, and with obvious tender care. What Ruspoli chose to leave out is almost as intriguing as what he included.
Cast:
Dado Ruspoli, Debra Berger, Bartolomeo Ruspoli
Awards:
Most Excellent Short: The Other Venice Film Festival