Respiro ****

Living in a traditional Italian fishing village, the heroine is slightly bonkers in an unthreatening, even endearing kind of a way. This does not go down well with the locals however for whom her deviation from the norm is not acceptable. The film is about being an outsider and what that means, it is about taboo. The consequences are surprising and ironic.

The characters, particularly of the family members are authentic and compelling and the film has a great atmosphere, I use the word carefully. Respiro means "I breathe", at times we witness moments of Grazia's spirited liberation. However, the film also manages to convey the feeling of suffocation that she struggles with as a result of her inability to conform; several times I noticed my attention was drawn to my own breath, particularly at the perfectly conceived climax.