Giorgio Volpe | StandBy: l’attesa / 2018

 removal

by Douglas Messerli

 

Giorgio Volpe (screenwriter and director) StandBy: l’attesa / 2018 [15 minutes]

 

Italian director Giorgio Volpe’s approach to his subject is through the eyes of a true female busybody, Anita (Camilla Bianchini) visiting, along with several others, a hospital, where she with the others are waiting results. As if she were a waiting room detective of sorts, she attempts to analyze and pinpoint the reasons why each of the individuals in the room are visiting the hospital and what their relationships are to each other.

     She quickly answers to her satisfaction the reasons why a father and mother are visiting the doctor with their small son; and, although she is bit confused by the relationship of an older man with a young hard-looking woman, she seems disinterested in a diagnosis. She is even more intrigued by a handsome young man who seems nervous as he waits for his report, but not too nervous to note the glance of another young man. He seems in a hurry to get back to office to have a meeting which may help him achieve a more prestigious position in the office. On the phone he reports his name to be Simone Alarti (Nicola Paduano). Accordingly, she is convinced she was absolutely right in her analysis.

      The second young man, Filippo Volpe (Tony Scarfi), she believes is a hypochondriac, who can’t wait to get the test results and leave. She suddenly turns to him, announcing: “His name’s Simone Alarti. He’s very cute.” Providing him with a bit of chocolate, she introduces herself and Filippo responds in like. She quickly guesses his age, 25, as he’s called up for his results.

       As he leaves, he encounters her again and she provides him, quite amazingly, with Simone’s cellphone number as well as her own. At home, Filippo calls up the man he made eye contact with at the hospital, but Simone does not remember him; nonetheless they make an appointment to meet up.

       They have coffee and truly seem to enjoy one another, talking about a shared love of art (Simone loves Van Gough) as Simone walks Filippo back to his apartment.

       They meet again for a lovely dinner. They go on long walks. They join one another for a Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition. They kiss, and even cuddle-up at home to an old movie, stuffing one another’s mouths with nuts.

       But in the midst of this, Simone sees a large white pill being hand-fed to him by Filippo, and suddenly it is that time in the film for the long-expected transition, as Simone puts it, “Filippo, I have to tell you something.”

       As we have long guessed, he is HIV-positive, his reason, so very misdiagnosed by Anita, for having been in that hospital waiting room. The hypochondriac who has transformed his regular visit from angst into a magical love affair has come up against the wall he has so long feared. But instead of escaping, he hugs Simone close with intense affection and love.

      The next morning at the breakfast table Simone brings up the idea of having expectations in life. But Filippo, immediately knowing where Simone is going, argues that his expectation is “I’d like to enjoy this deep connection with you as long as possible.” Yet they argue about the risk, Simone fearing more than Filippo suddenly about how it might change his new lover’s entire life.

    Simone argues he has a death sentence on his head and does not want to extend that to Filippo. Clearly Combivir has not resolved his fears. Even Filippo perceives that the notion of death sentence should be reconceived as a “chronical infection.”

     But Simone’s fears leads to their breakup. Clearly, however, they have kept in close touch, as Simone suddenly breaks into Filippo’s room to announce that he’s won “the Tender,” an Italian procurement, a public financial position which in this case evidently involves travel.

   We soon see Simone calling Filippo to congratulate him on passing his exams. Yet we know something is still amiss when Simone suggests that because of their bad connection they should talk again tomorrow. He clearly is delaying bad news.

      If Filippo hasn’t figured it out, we certainly have come to realize that because of Simone’s fears he has determined not to return from wherever he has gone. He has put himself entirely into his new work, admitting he’s been a coward for not having explained his intentions, but feeling that through his love he is protecting Filippo. So much for the possibility of a return to normal life through pills in the era of AIDS after AIDS!

      Filippo meets up with Anita, the prognosticator of the first scene of this film, to whom he explains: “Time doesn’t erase memories. Time just puts them on standby mode.” In short, he too has been so affected by AIDS that his life has been transformed into an endless world of waiting.

 

Los Angeles, October 22, 2023

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (October 2023).