PRIMAVERA was a title that completely passed by me at last fall’s Toronto International Film Festival and I wish SOMEBODY would have raved about it as this passed by me for almost an entire year. The movie then played my local Victoria Film Festival where I missed it, then I was unable to attend the recent Seattle International Film Festival where this movie also had rave reviews. Finally, upon its small theatrical release I finally got to catch up with it and it’s now on my list of the year’s best movies. This currently has a small release in both Canada & the United States and you may have to look for it, but it’s a rewarding experience if you CAN find it. Read more below!
About: Directed by acclaimed opera director Damiano Michieletto in his feature debut, Primavera (2025) is an Italian historical drama set in 18th-century Venice. It follows Cecilia (Tecla Insolia), a spirited, gifted young violinist confined to the Ospedale della Pietà orphanage, who finds her destiny transformed by the arrival of a new, ambitious music director—the composer Antonio Vivaldi (Michele Riondino).
In early 18th-century Venice, Cecilia struggles to survive in a secluded and cold orphanage for abandoned girls, where she and her peers are trained to perform in a renowned all-female musical ensemble. Hidden behind screens and convent walls, the girls play for tourists, dignitaries, and wealthy male patrons whose support keeps the institution afloat. Under the strict rule of unsympathetic nuns and with little hope for their futures, many cling to dreams that their mothers will return—or that an arranged marriage to a benefactor might offer a way out.
Cecilia, a gifted young virtuoso, knows that her only chance at freedom lies beyond the walls that confine her and hopes that her mother will come to get her out. When the brilliant and unconventional Antonio Vivaldi arrives as the ensemble’s new instructor, he immediately recognizes her extraordinary talent.
Primavera draws inspiration from the real history of Vivaldi’s nearly three decades teaching at the Ospedale della Pietà and from Tiziano Scarpa’s novel Stabat Mater. Lush, atmospheric, and deeply moving, the film offers a powerful portrait of creativity blossoming against the odds and a young woman’s fight to claim her place in a world determined to silence her.
Reaction: PRIMAVERA is a fully realized and elegant experience that transcends its breathtaking visuals and to my surprise, becomes something so tangible and relatable while also being a grand entertainment made for the big screen experience. The movie is a powerful study of women of the time and their strife along with the bond that two people can make over music in extraordinary times. Set in early 18th century Venice that itself has a visual power, my heart absolutely broke for the journey of Cecelia who is a gifted violin player who has the opportunity to learn music with a young Antonio Vivaldi.
The movie is mostly about the connection to Vivaldi and that may be the hook to get people to come see this movie, but it’s Cecelia’s journey here in how she stands up to pursue her love of music while the world tries to pin her down that has its unique and dynamic power in this kind of story that I feel like I haven’t seen much before. Not only do you see stunning creation of music and joy of performance, but the movie is also fascinating in the day-to-day routines of this orphanage with conversations between the orphan girls about their virginity and being married off to men as a business transaction. I was also interested to learn how Vivaldi’s reign of music wasn’t actually at this time but was discovered many years later when his music was rediscovered amazingly enough by his sheet music being discovered by historians.
The look and design of the movie is a standout here by filmmaker Damiano Michieletto and I can’t believe this is feature debut; PRIMAVERA has a grounded and gorgeous visual and aural presentation that demands a big screen presentation (luckily I saw it in a cinema that takes care of its laser projection and good sound system); we not only get taken back in time to the Venice of the early 18th century through its streets and gondolas, the use of the church with not only its theatrical design and openness is breathtaking, but I also loved the attention to detail about how hidden the music performance was from the rest of the church, for example, and I feel like we’re voyeurs in sequences in back rooms where the girls feel repressed against the people running the routine. You feel many sides here. Stanley Kubrick also did small things like this with his zoom lens in BARRY LYNDON, which Michieletto (who has an Opera background, no surprise) takes as a compliment.
I also want to mention our lead, Tecla Insolia, who shows so much expression throughout her face and you root for her to succeed, and I even caught myself very emotionally charged and wanting her to succeed with her music, and Michele Riondino as Vivaldi is outstanding here as her mentor, but ultimately this is HER movie. Later in the picture there is a shocking scene of a physical attack on Cecelia that absolutely broke my heart, and the way she is able to get free from adversity absolutely had me in tears in its beautiful and (finally) uplifting finale.
With that said, I don’t want to reveal too much of PRIMAVERA’S joys of storytelling and ambition, I want people that are seeking great movies to find an experience like this and go out and see it for themselves. This is the thinking person’s movie (seeing this the same weekend as THE INVITE gives me hope) for adults in a time we are so set aside by mainstream sequels and remakes. Anyone who tries telling me there are no good films anymore, especially for adults, I will point to a movie like this and insist they don’t miss it.
There are many high notes and almost no wrong turns here in this nearly perfect movie that I wish I saw last fall in Toronto so I could champion this beautiful film, but here I am and I will carry the torch even if it’s a bit late. PRIMAVERA is the kind of theatrical experience I long for and can’t wait to see this one again.
Rating: 10 out of 10
