Diamanti is a vintage Italian melodrama filled with love for the invisible women who worked in the golden age of cinema.
I haven’t seen the splendour of the fashion scene captured with such care and detail since Phantom Thread, and the rich colours on show will make you pine to step through our screen and into the 70s.
Expect twists, turns and Italian A-listers when this marvel screens at Pictureville from 8 May, and because you’ve taken the time to check out this page you can enjoy 30% off your tickets when you use the promo code DIAM30.
SYNOPSIS
In the 1970s, sisters Luisa and Gabriella run a glamorous fashion house in Rome, catering for Oscar-winning Best Costume Design customers. Colors, sewing and fabric are at the core of the movie, but lots of drama unfolds in this close-knit community of seamstresses.
WHAT THE CRITICS THINK
- “A joyful meta-melodrama celebrating female actors. A feast.” – Little White Lies
- “The script is so breathless it never feels draggy and Özpetek gets excellent results with his stacked cast.” – Guardian
- “From its meta-framing device and referential sight gags to warmly involving personal connections, this is pure cinematic joy, nodding to specific classic movies while celebrating the fine art of costume design.” – Shadows on the Wall
IF YOU LIKE DIAMANTI, HERE’S THREE MORE FILMS TO DISCOVER…
On streaming: Four Mothers [BFI Player]
A hilarious, uplifting tale of an Irish son juggling four very different mothers over one chaotic weekend in Dublin.
Winner of BFI London Film Festival 2024 Audience Award for Best Feature, Darren Thornton’s wonderfully accessible riff on Gianni Di Gregorio’s Mid-August Lunch is a hilarious, moving and perceptive look at mother and son dynamics, queer identity and singledom.
On television: Grand Hotel [BBC Two, Sunday 3 May 12.25 – 14.15]
Based on the German play by Vicki Baum and its American version, the star-filled melodrama that is Grand Hotel became a blueprint for almost every glossy Hollywood soap opera that followed it. Greta Garbo, John and Lionel Barrymore, Joan Crawford and Wallace Beery vie for screen time as the various residents of the Berlin hotel.
At Pictureville: Romería (15) [8–10, 12–15, 17, 19–21 May]
With her mother’s diary in hand, a woman’s search for official documents for university leads her to her biological family on the Atlantic coast.
What starts as an administrative quest reveals long-buried family secrets…