Those who have gone through the experience told by the film “Three Bowls”, or have been close to those who have gone through the same storm that the protagonist finds themselves having to face, will find in Isabel Coixet’s work, which will be released in cinemas on Thursday 9 October, a lot of truth, an honest and realistic account of that rift that opens in the life of those who, suddenly, in the most complicated, painful and heartbreaking way, arrive at a new awareness. In the film the one who goes through this experience is Marta, played by Alba Rorwacher, her partner, Antonio, is instead played by Elio Germano. Silvia D’Amico instead plays Elisa, Marta’s caring sister.

“Three Bowls”, the plot

Marta and Antonio are a couple who have been together for many years and who, as sometimes happens, at a certain point no longer understand each other. Antonio then decides to leave his partner after seven years of living together and we follow both him and her as they deal with the grief of separation. If Antonio’s second thoughts slowly make their way inside him, Marta withdraws more and more into herself. In this state of apathy, he notices that he is losing weight because he no longer has an appetite. On the advice of his caring sister, he turns to a specialist, talking about his difficult personal moment and the darkness he is going through. A darkness which, however, at a certain point, becomes very distant, becomes a simple accident, because from the results of the tests Marta discovers that she has a late-stage tumor and from that moment, her outlook on things changes and with it the entire evaluation of her experiences, of her choices, of the entire world in which she is immersed and that surrounds her changes. There is no more time to procrastinate, Marta’s life suddenly becomes now and everything.

“Three Bowls”, the enlightenment on life when you understand that it is slipping away

It is a delicate matter to write this review because we are talking about a topic, the disease, or rather that disease, which for so long in the past was “unmentionable” even in the media, cancer, which is often and appropriately told with a language and imagery totally steeped in rhetoric. And in particular, the rhetoric that sees the patient transforming into a warrior, ready to fight to “earn” the victory of the war, that is, to save his own skin. Unfortunately, as we all know, it is not a question of good will or commitment to positive thinking, whether the treatments have an effect on the attacked organisms or not. And the impossibility of treatment is certainly not something that depends on the patient.

In this film, based on the book by Michela Murgia, who passed through this experience first hand, there is everything except the rhetoric we are used to, and this was to be expected, considering from whom Marta’s story comes. The film stages the book with delicacy and balance, starting from putting the couple at the centre, a couple like many others, and when Marta discovers that she is ill, her relationship has already foundered and she believes she is lost due to this breakup. When she discovers that instead it is life itself that is about to run away, the protagonist goes through a real enlightenment that allows her to put everything in her life so chaotic and also so unaware. The love that is no longer there, the job as a teacher and therefore the relationship with the young students, a willing but ramshackle sister, who also lives without the liberating awareness that life is one and short. And then, the little things that make life worth living, that fill it with flavours, sounds, colours, curiosity and amazement. You might think from these words that we are faced with yet another sweetened representation of a painful journey, but this is not the case. Marta’s enlightenment comes in such a natural and smooth way, and it is such a “normal” reaction, that anyone who has been through or has been around someone who has been through the same experience can recognize it. A reaction, an enlightenment, which tells us a lot about the meaning of life and about the truth that is difficult to digest and which, to truly understand, we should always be clear about its precarious nature. Once you leave the room, you too will feel more aware.

Rating: 6.8

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