What will Tom Ford's new film be about? All about the new project by the American designer and director
Tom Ford is finally ready to return behind the camera. After the masterpiece A Single Man released sixteen years ago and the more experimental but no less appreciated Nocturnal Animals from nine years ago, Ford will direct a historical film set in Italy. This one, like his first film, will be an adaptation of a novel, specifically Cry to Heaven by Anne Rice, the same author behind Interview with the Vampire, a revolutionary novel for the horror subgenre. Ford's choice of a Rice novel is intriguing: the “recipe” at the base of his style goes far beyond the simple historical genre, often incorporating very explicit eroticism, the bisexuality or non-binary nature of half the characters, and profound philosophical and religious themes. But what is the book about exactly?
The plot of “Cry to Heaven”
Cry to Heaven is set in 18th-century Italy, immersed in the fascinating and controversial world of opera, dominated by the figures of castrati, male singers castrated to preserve their high and extraordinary voices. The story revolves around Tonio Treschi, a young Venetian nobleman of patrician origins, gifted with exceptional vocal talent who, at just fifteen years old, is kidnapped and castrated against his will by his illegitimate brother Carlo, excluded from the inheritance and driven by jealousy and ambition. Becoming a castrato catapults him into a new and painful existence, where his passion for singing becomes his only refuge and redemption.
Fleeing to Naples, Tonio finds refuge in the Conservatory, where he meets Guido Maffeo, another castrato of humble Calabrian origins, once a celebrated soprano who lost his voice and reinvented himself as a teacher and composer. Guido sees in Tonio not only a prodigy student, but a chance to relive his own faded dreams. Together, master and disciple navigate a world of noble intrigues, artistic rivalries, complex loves and the cruel social reality of castrati, between the opulent Venetian courts and Neapolitan theaters, in a whirlwind of emotions, vendettas, and artistic aspirations that explore themes of identity, power, and ephemeral beauty.
The book contains several sexually explicit scenes (as often happens in Rice's novels; under the pseudonym A.N. Roquelaure, she even wrote an erotic saga inspired by Sleeping Beauty) that explore the fluidity of sexuality of the era, including various homoerotic elements and complex relationships tied to the world of castrati, who, it should be remembered, are practically all adolescents. These parts are described in quite detailed fashion and are central to the theme of beauty, desire, and identity present in all the author's novels, which, by the way, can often have uneven quality especially in the later phases of Rice's career.
Where will the film be shot?
According to the first reports, filming should begin next January and will take place mainly in Rome. However, we know that the location scouting will not take place only in the capital (presumably the shoots there will be in historical locations and at Cinecittà studios) because the story is also set in Venice and Naples and thus it cannot be ruled out that the crew will move across central Italy during its work.