# Genova
**Genova** is a 2008 British drama film directed by [Michael Winterbottom](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-winterbottom), written by Winterbottom with Laurence Coriat, and starring [Colin Firth](https://www.edgepedia.org/colin-firth) as a widowed professor who moves with his two young daughters from the United States to the Italian port city of Genoa after their mother dies in a car accident.[1](https://cineuropa.org/it/film/86403/) • [2](https://www.commissionefilmcei.it/film/genova/) It competed at the 56th San Sebastián International Festival in September 2008, where Winterbottom won the Silver Shell for Best Director.[3](https://sansebastianfestival.com/2008/sections_and_films/official_selection/7/560001/in) • [4](https://www.alboniga.com/dossier/donostia/08donost.htm)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title / country | Genova; United Kingdom, 2008[1](https://cineuropa.org/it/film/86403/) • [5](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/39416206-801e-5b61-b51d-6d7b190507f1/genova) |
| Director and writers | Michael Winterbottom; screenplay by Winterbottom and Laurence Coriat[1](https://cineuropa.org/it/film/86403/) |
| Principal cast | Colin Firth (Joe), Catherine Keener (Barbara), Hope Davis (Marianne), Willa Holland (Kelly), Perla Haney-Jardine (Mary)[2](https://www.commissionefilmcei.it/film/genova/) |
| Production | Andrew Eaton for Revolution Films and Film4; distributed internationally by HanWay Films[1](https://cineuropa.org/it/film/86403/) • [6](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/86712/) |
| Festival and award | Official Selection, 56th San Sebastián Festival 2008; Silver Shell for Best Director to Winterbottom[3](https://sansebastianfestival.com/2008/sections_and_films/official_selection/7/560001/in) • [4](https://www.alboniga.com/dossier/donostia/08donost.htm) |
| Release | United Kingdom 27 March 2009; Italy 16 October 2009 (Officine UBU)[1](https://cineuropa.org/it/film/86403/) |
| Critical scores | 77% Tomatometer from 43 reviews; 41% audience (Popcornmeter) score[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_summer_in_genoa) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film opens on an icy American road, where the mother, Marianne ([Hope Davis](https://www.edgepedia.org/hope-davis)), is driving with her daughters. A car accident caused in part by the children's play kills her, and the younger daughter, Mary, feels responsible.[8](https://www.screendaily.com/genova-/4040695.article?storyCode=4040695) • [9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/mar/26/genova-film-review-michael-winterbottom-colin-firth)
Five months later Joe (Colin Firth), a British lecturer working in the United States, accepts a one-year university teaching post in Genoa and takes Kelly ([Willa Holland](https://www.edgepedia.org/willa-holland)), aged 16, and Mary (Perla Haney-Jardine), aged 10, there to start a new life.[3](https://sansebastianfestival.com/2008/sections_and_films/official_selection/7/560001/in) An old friend of Joe's, Barbara ([Catherine Keener](https://www.edgepedia.org/catherine-keener)), helps the family find an apartment and settle in the city.[3](https://sansebastianfestival.com/2008/sections_and_films/official_selection/7/560001/in) The two girls take piano lessons with Mauro in the old town, a maze of narrow alleys in which they struggle to find their way.[3](https://sansebastianfestival.com/2008/sections_and_films/official_selection/7/560001/in)
The three grieve in different ways. Kelly explores the city's unfamiliar adult world and resents having to look after her sister, while Mary, guilt-wracked, sees and speaks with the ghost of her mother and confides this to Barbara.[2](https://www.commissionefilmcei.it/film/genova/) • [3](https://sansebastianfestival.com/2008/sections_and_films/official_selection/7/560001/in) Joe is torn between his memories of Marianne and a possible new romance, while the family's fragile equilibrium is tested in the labyrinthine streets before the film reaches its resolution.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_summer_in_genoa)
## Production
Winterbottom first encountered Genoa while in transit there about three years before making the film, and returned several times before deciding that a story he had been developing for four or five years fitted the city.[10](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-11-05/genova-an-enjoyable-change-for-winterbottom/1130616) Shooting took place there in the summer of 2007, with support from the Liguria Region and the local film commission.[11](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/113941) Filming locations included the old town, the University of Genoa in via Balbi, Palazzo Rosso, and beaches and villages along the Ligurian coast such as Camogli, Moneglia, San Fruttuoso, and Sestri Levante.[12](https://www.italiavela.it/articolo.asp?idarticolo=liguria-debutto-per-genova-il-film-michael-winterbottom-con-colin-firth_4943) • [13](https://www.mentelocale.it/genova/11927-film-girati-genova-ecco-16-titoli-vedere-rivedere.htm)
The film was produced by Andrew Eaton for Revolution Films and Film4, with financing from the UK Film Council, and was shot on HD digital rather than 35mm.[6](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/86712/) Marcel Zyskind was the director of photography, Melissa Parmenter composed the music, and Paul Monaghan and Winterbottom shared the editing.[2](https://www.commissionefilmcei.it/film/genova/) Colin Firth described the minimal crew setup, with no lights, no street closures, and no call of "Action," as one of the most enjoyable moviemaking experiences of his career, and called Camogli, where much shooting took place, a place "as wonderful a holiday as I could ever imagine."[14](https://toronto.citynews.ca/2008/09/08/colin-firth-calls-intimate-italian-film-genova-a-career-highlight/)
## Release and reception
Genova premiered in the Official Selection of the 56th San Sebastián Festival, where the closing-night awards on 27 September 2008 gave Winterbottom the Silver Shell for Best Director.[3](https://sansebastianfestival.com/2008/sections_and_films/official_selection/7/560001/in) • [4](https://www.alboniga.com/dossier/donostia/08donost.htm) It screened at the London and Leeds festivals in 2008.[15](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/genova-film-review-by-val-kermode) On general release it appeared under different titles in some markets, including *A Summer in Genoa* on Rotten Tomatoes and *Genova – Un luogo per ricominciare* in Italy.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_summer_in_genoa) • [13](https://www.mentelocale.it/genova/11927-film-girati-genova-ecco-16-titoli-vedere-rivedere.htm)
Critical response was divided. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 77% Tomatometer from 43 professional reviews against a 41% audience score, and the site's critics consensus calls it "intelligent filmmaking with superb central performances" that is "frustrating in places."[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_summer_in_genoa) Peter Bradshaw of *The Guardian* gave it 2 out of 5 stars, calling it "more like a tentative sketch for a movie than the actual finished product" while praising its visual fluency.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/mar/26/genova-film-review-michael-winterbottom-colin-firth) Time Out awarded 4 out of 5, and *The Hollywood Reporter* praised Firth's "quietly affecting" performance and the child actors.[16](https://www.timeout.com/movies/genova) • [17](https://firth.com/genova_rev.html) *Screen Daily* judged the drama insubstantial but noted Winterbottom's refusal of easy sentimentality and the convincing work of the cast.[8](https://www.screendaily.com/genova-/4040695.article?storyCode=4040695) In Italy the film earned about 64,600 euros in its first eight weeks of release, with 20,100 euros in the opening weekend.[18](https://www.mymovies.it/dizionario/recensione.asp?id=56876)
## Style and influences
The film is built around the city itself. Winterbottom's handheld digital cinematography with Zyskind captures the alleyways, scaffolding, and seaside light of Genoa, and several critics noted that the labyrinthine setting, the grief theme, and the appearance of a dead parent's ghost invite comparison with [Nicolas Roeg](https://www.edgepedia.org/nicolas-roeg)'s Venice-set *Don't Look Now* (1973).[19](https://blog.cinemaautopsy.com/2009/11/03/film-review-genova-2008/) • [9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/mar/26/genova-film-review-michael-winterbottom-colin-firth) Winterbottom acknowledged the comparison in interviews, saying that Venice is in some ways Genoa's twin city but that he wanted above all to show the love uniting the characters and their adaptation to a foreign city and language.[11](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/113941) The opening credits pair [Georges Delerue](https://www.edgepedia.org/georges-delerue)'s "Grand Choral" with aerial views of the city, and the true nature of what Mary sees is left deliberately ambiguous rather than resolved as a supernatural event.[16](https://www.timeout.com/movies/genova) • [19](https://blog.cinemaautopsy.com/2009/11/03/film-review-genova-2008/)
## References
1. [Genova (film profile), Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/it/film/86403/)
2. [Genova, Commissione Nazionale Valutazione Film](https://www.commissionefilmcei.it/film/genova/)
3. [Genova, 2008 Official Selection, San Sebastián Film Festival](https://sansebastianfestival.com/2008/sections_and_films/official_selection/7/560001/in)
4. [Festival de San Sebastián 2008 – Palmarés, Zinema](https://www.alboniga.com/dossier/donostia/08donost.htm)
5. [Genova (2008), British Film Institute](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/39416206-801e-5b61-b51d-6d7b190507f1/genova)
6. [Winterbottom moves San Sebastián audiences, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/86712/)
7. [Genova, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_summer_in_genoa)
8. [Genova review, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/genova-/4040695.article?storyCode=4040695)
9. [Genova review by Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/mar/26/genova-film-review-michael-winterbottom-colin-firth)
10. [Genova an 'enjoyable change' for Winterbottom, ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-11-05/genova-an-enjoyable-change-for-winterbottom/1130616)
11. [Winterbottom, an Englishman in Genova, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/113941)
12. [Debutto per "Genova" il film di Michael Winterbottom con Colin Firth, Italiavela](https://www.italiavela.it/articolo.asp?idarticolo=liguria-debutto-per-genova-il-film-michael-winterbottom-con-colin-firth_4943)
13. [Film girati a Genova: ecco 16 titoli da vedere, Mentelocale](https://www.mentelocale.it/genova/11927-film-girati-genova-ecco-16-titoli-vedere-rivedere.htm)
14. [Colin Firth Calls Intimate Italian Film Genova A Career Highlight, CityNews Toronto](https://toronto.citynews.ca/2008/09/08/colin-firth-calls-intimate-italian-film-genova-a-career-highlight/)
15. [Genova (2008) review, Eye for Film](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/genova-film-review-by-val-kermode)
16. [Genova review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/genova)
17. [Colin Firth starring in Genova, review roundup, ColinFirth.com](https://firth.com/genova_rev.html)
18. [Genova, recensione e dati di incasso, MYmovies.it](https://www.mymovies.it/dizionario/recensione.asp?id=56876)
19. [Film review – Genova (2008), Cinema Autopsy](https://blog.cinemaautopsy.com/2009/11/03/film-review-genova-2008/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Biographical and historical drama films 2000s › Released 2006 to 2009*
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