Lorenzo Caproni | La collana (The Necklace) / 2014

guardian of the jewels

by Douglas Messerli

 

Lorenzo Caproni (screenwriter and director) La collana (The Necklace) / 2014 [11 minutes]

 

Nothing really happens in Lorenzo Caproni’s short film, The Necklace; or perhaps I should say, everything happens inside Marco’s (Emanuel Caserio) spinning head as he attempts to readjust to a world of which he is probably quite innocent.

    Sent off as a courier for a precious necklace to be used in a photo shoot, Marco arrives a bit earlier than what the photographer, Giorgio (Antonio De Matteo) remembers as the time of the appointment. As his assistant Anna (Marina Savino) ushers Marco in, he quickly commands her to call the models, the makeup artists, and secondary photographer to see if they can arrive sooner than expected.

   In the meantime, Giorgio, a handsome man perhaps in his middle 30s carefully eyes the lean and shy courier, at first simply attempting to engage him in conversation: does he like the flower arrangement his has prepared for the backdrop? A man of few words, Marco indicates it is just fine. Marco himself peruses the studio walls, wondering if the photos were all his own. Giorgio answers that some of them are, while others are simply images he admired.

    Giorgio then attempts to take a few photos of Marco, who immediately backs away, even holding up his hands to block the camera, claiming that he is simply not photogenic. The one picture Giorgio snaps proves that he may be right.

    But there are other ways a gay man such as Giorgio have of possibly reeling in young handsome boys such as Marco. He simply pulls of his own shirt, revealing his hirsute chest.

    When Marco, in slight terror asks what he’s doing, Giorgio acts as if it were an everyday occurrence, reaching down to pull off his pants, and soon after removing his underpants. "Then you take pictures of me."

   Marco, almost speechless, argues that he doesn’t even know how to use it. It’s automatic claims Giorgio as if the camera itself took its own pictures.

   Marco expresses concern that someone might enter the gallery, but Giorgio is perfectly willing to “take the risk.”

      One snap of the camera and Marco is clearly hooked, clearly not on the act of picture-taking, but the image of a naked man before him. He continues snapping photos as if he was a born photographer. And we can see by his facial gestures that he is overwhelmed and quite enjoying the process, perhaps one of the few moments in his life when someone has allowed him to take a chance, to open himself up to the risk of feeling anything, let alone sexual desire.

    Anna soon after enters reporting that the retinue of models and others have arrived. We can almost imagine that Marco is both startled by her sudden entry—although she acts as if her employer standing naked before a camera were the most ordinary thing in the world—and crestfallen since he few moments of freedom have been snatched back.

     He now returns to his job as courier, as the group of 7 individuals rush into the room with Giorgio briefly retiring behind the black photo curtains to redress. Marco’s entire demeanor is altered as he returns to the sky young man, looking away from the others as if he has not received permissions, somehow, to even stare open-eyed at their busy actions.

    The model, finally seated, is read for the necklace he carries in his briefcase. He opens the case revealing the jeweled relic and placing it gently around the model’s neck.

    Giorgio quickly returns, still buttoning up his shirt, and beings the shoot. We see Anna and Marco, a few minutes later, scanning the digital images he’s already handed them in a small scandisk.

    “I saw the pictures,” Marco quietly tells Giorgio when they meet up after the shoot. “Bravo!” “Thank you,” answers Giorgio looking at the boy straight into his face. “Are you still on schedule?”

    For a moment you can almost see Marco pausing as if to say he might alter that schedule, but he abandons his momentary musing almost with a smile to answer “Yes.”

    Looking up into Giorgio’s face, he continues “I’ll be going. And…if you need the jewels….”

    “We’ll call.”

    It is as if they have made a vague appointment to meet up again. Giorgio asks Anna to show the young man out, she turning back to her boss as she does so to mouth the words: “Slut!”

    Another male already stands in the background with his shirt off, ready to play the model to Giorgio’s next shoot.

    Director of more than 10 short films, Caproni has revealed himself as one of the wryest talents of current gay cinema.

 

Los Angeles, December 2, 2025

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (December 2025).