L‘Imbalsamatore

Der Kleinwüchsige Peppino ist Einbalsamierer. Valerio, ein hochgewachsener junger Bursche, ist Kellner. Deborah wechselt andauernd den Job. Die Wege der drei kreuzen sich, sie erleben gemeinsam einige schöne Tage, doch die individuellen Obsessionen sind zu stark, um dauerhaftes Glück zu finden. In L‘Imbalsamatore entfernt sich Garrone von seiner bisherigen, semidokumentarischen Arbeitsweise, indem er das Motiv der Erotik einführt und den Moment sexueller Anspannung gezielt einsetzt, um die Intensität der Erzählung zu steigern. Die düsteren Bilder und der melancholische Score, die die unterdrückte Sexualität Peppinos spiegeln, versetzen den Zuschauer in eine mehrdeutige, unbehagliche Stimmung. (Joslyn Yang)

Peppino (Ernesto Mahieux) and Valerio (male model Valerio Foglia Manzillo) meet at the Naples zoo and bond over an African vulture; the fiftyish taxidermist offers young Valerio a job as his assistant; Valerio moves in with his new boss, and soon this Mutt and Jeff odd couple are embarking on foursomes with Roman hookers. Taxidermy is one of the more sinister professions that one can practice in the movies, and not surprisingly, affable Peppino has his creepy dark side. Summoned by his Mafia padrone, he‘s dispatched to Cremona to sew a shipment of drugs into a corpse ... Inspired by a recent police case, The Embalmer is skillfully directed and adroitly acted. It definitely benefits from its restraint. As the saturated colors are keyed to a wintry lowering sky, so the grotesque relationships seem to arise out of some abandoned fairground. The Embalmer has the look of naturalized Fellini and, in its nearly unblinking analysis of human power relations, a story worthy of Fassbinder. (J. Hoberman)