Film 'Monte Verità' brings early feminist utopia to Italian cinemas

The film 'Monte Verità', directed by Stefan Jäger, premiered at the 74th Locarno Festival and TFI Torino Film Industry, and has been released in Italian cinemas since June 29 via Draka Distribution. The screenplay was written by debutant Kornelija Naraks, inspired by Jäger's visit to Monte Verità in Ascona, Switzerland. The story follows Hanna Leitner, a young Viennese wife and mother who escapes the oppression of bourgeois marriage to join the Monte Verità community, a revolutionary social experiment that became a magnet for those seeking an alternative lifestyle. The protagonist, played by Maresi Riegner, is a woman yearning to change her life, fleeing a husband who expects her to focus solely on domestic duties, and pursuing her passion for photography while seeking treatment for asthma. The narrative is based on true events and highlights the community's emphasis on female emancipation, freedom of choice, and individual aspirations. Notable figures associated with Monte Verità include artists and philosophers such as Jean Arp, Herman Hesse, and Isadora Duncan, as well as political dissidents, theosophists, reformers, anarchists, and psychoanalysts. The film draws parallels between the rebellious protagonist of the late 19th century and contemporary women seeking to break free from societal constraints.