Le Fate Ignoranti [The Ignorant Fairies] [His Secret Life] **** (2001, Margherita Buy, Stefano Accorsi, Serra Yilmaz) – Classic Movie Review 12,797

The 2001 Italian film Le Fate Ignoranti [The Ignorant Fairies] [His Secret Life] is another spellbinding, hauntingly beautiful drama from Turkish-Italian director Ferzan Ozpetek. It is directed in commanding style by Ozpetek, and the heartfelt, highly emotional story and screenplay are written with exquisite care, concern and a fine nuance by Ozpetek and Gianni Romoli.

After her husband Ernesto (Andrea Renzi) is killed by a car in a street accident, Rome AIDS doctor Antonia (Margherita Buy) is deeply depressed. But, prompted by a painting and the message on the back of it, and finding a set of keys, she eventually follows her curiosity and starts to find out the truth about his life. She discovers that he was two-timing her with a male lover for the past seven years.

She goes to see her husband’s lover, Michele (Stefano Accorsi), and meets up with him and her husband’s alternative lifestyle friends in the huge apartment he shares with a close group of gay and transgender friends, including a Turkish immigrant (Serra Yilmaz), a transgender woman, the Turkish singer Emir, a Neapolitan woman and a prostitute. Antonia is irresistibly drawn in, establishes and ambiguous friendship with Michele, and begins to interact with the group on the pretext of helping Ernesto (Gabriel Garko), a young HIV positive friend of Michele’s.

The four main stars Margherita Buy, Stefano Accorsi, Gabriel Garko and Andrea Renzi are all lovely in their very different ways, and so is the wonderful Serra Yilmaz. The film is a memorable occasion, immersively compelling, a total delight, and one of the brilliant Ozpetek’s best. The themes are loss, loneliness, longing and love, Ozpetek’s regular habitual concerns. He’s very good at it.

The cast are Margherita Buy, Stefano Accorsi, Serra Yilmaz, Gabriel Garko, Erika Blanc, Andrea Renzi, and Koray Candemir.

Director: Ferzan Ozpetek. Writers: Gianni Romoli (screenplay), Ferzan Ozpetek (screenplay).

And two decades later, there is a TV series. In 2022, Disney+ released an eight-part TV serialization of the film, The Ignorant Angels, again directed by Özpetek.

Le Fate Ignoranti [The Ignorant Fairies] (2001) won three Nastro d’Argento Prizes (Best Actress: Margherita Buy, Best Actor: Stefano Accorsi and Best Producer: Tilde Corsi and Gianni Romoli).

It won Public’s Choice, at the Image-Nation Festival.

It won Best Film, at the New York Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

It won Best Film, at the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival.

It was released on DVD in the US as His Secret Life.

The films of Ferzan Özpetek: Hamam (1997), Harem Suare (1999), Le Fate Ignoranti [The Ignorant Fairies] (2001), Facing Windows (2003), Cuore Sacro (2004), Saturn in Opposition (2007), A Perfect Day (2008), Loose Cannons (2010), Magnificent Presence (2012), Fasten Your Seatbelts (2014), Red Istanbul (2017), Naples in Veils (2017), The Goddess of Fortune (2019), Nuovo Olimpo (2023).

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,797

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