The Double Hour (Giuseppe Capotondi, 2009): Italy

Reviewed by: Demi Mellett. Viewed at the: Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011

This film was definatly one of those films that kept you on the edge of your seat the whole time. The Double Hour was a suspenseful film and had some mystery to it as well. The story line shows us Sonia’s inhability to be able to tell what is real and what is not throughout the journey the director, Giuseppe Capotondi, has taken us on. This was not personally one of my favorite movies, but it defiantly kept my interest throughout the whole showing.

This film is about a woman named Sonia. Sonia, played by Kseniya Rappoport, is a maid and has just moved into a new city. She doesn’t know many people besides her coworkers. One day, Sonia goes to clean a room and there is a guest occupying the room but she welcomes Sonia inside the room anyways and tells her to carry on with her work. While cleaning the bathroom Sonia notices it becomes quiet and when she looks in the room, the woman is not there. She looks to the window and notices it is open and when she looks down, she realizes that the woman has commited suicide.

Trying to meet new people, Sonia then tries speed dating and has no interest in any of the men besides one. The man Sonia takes an interest to is Guido, played by Filippo Timi. They have a connection immediatly. When they are walking to Guido’s car, the hour is 23:23. Guido goes on to explain that people make wishes when there are double hours but when Sonia asks if it works, he plainly tells her no. Guido is a security guard at a vacant mansion and one of the best customers at the speed dating spot near his house. Eventually Guido and Sonia get together and Guido takes Sonia to the property that he oversees. While on the property, their second date is abruptly interupted by a robbery and quickly shifts from romantic to terrifying. The robbers cleared out everything possible and when one of the robbers threatens Sonia right before leaving, Guido attacks him and gets shot. When the robber shot Guido it went straight through his body and ricketsheyed right to Sonia’s head, putting her in a coma for three days.

Guido did not survive the gunshot wound and throughout the film, Sonia is haunted by the thought that the man she could have fallen in love with has just died. In addition to the suicide of the guest in the hotel Sonia works at, she later finds out that her close friend from work has also commited suicide by lunging herself over a balcony on a double hour. During the funeral service, the priest indentifies her deceased friend as Sonia. This alarms Sonia because he says her name during the funeral.

The lighting throughout this film was dimmed for the majority of the time which left an eery overtone and the general mood was somber. Giuseppe Capotondi’s film is unpredictable and thrilling throughout the whole movie and I enjoyed the unfolding mystery happening on screen. The pace of this film was very quick and each scene left me wanting to know more.