Pappi Corsicato Returns with Art Film 'Perfetta illusione' at Torino Film Festival

Pappi Corsicato returns to fiction filmmaking after a decade with 'Perfetta illusione', premiering at the Torino Film Festival and releasing in Italian cinemas on December 15 via Europictures. The film freely adapts Balzac's 'Lost Illusions', shifting the protagonist from a writer to a painter. It explores ambition, love, and self-deception through a love triangle involving three young characters: an aspiring artist (Giuseppe Maggio), a would-be curator (Margherita Vicario), and a pragmatic woman aiming to open a shoe shop (Carolina Sala). Corsicato deliberately cast real-life critic Francesco Bonami as himself to lend authenticity. The film includes a scene shot at Pirelli HangarBicocca during an actual Maurizio Cattelan exhibition. Corsicato, who previously directed the Netflix documentary 'L'arte viva di Julian Schnabel' and the Rai 1 series 'Vivi e lascia vivere', emphasizes that the film's paintings are never shown, only described, to maintain realism. The director reflects on the blurred line between sincere love and narcissistic gratification, using out-of-focus cinematography to underscore ambiguous relationships.