In the city of doges, at the beginning of the 18th century, a young orphan, a prodigious violinist, sees her destiny disrupted by her meeting with the maestro Vivaldi. A vibrant story of emancipation, carried by the music of the Venetian composer.
Copyright Moana Films 2026
1716 in Venice, at Ospedale della Pietà, this orphanage where the “daughters” lead a secluded and austere life while benefiting from a solid musical education. It is the concerts in which they perform that, along with the donations from the great noble families and the dowries given at weddings, finance the operation of the Ospedale. In “Vivaldi and Me,” Damiano Michieletto captures the moment when a new music master arrives at the orphanage. He is a priest, severely asthmatic, and his name is Antonio Vivaldi. Striving to renew the orchestra’s repertoire, he will become attached to one of the young musicians with a destined name, Cecilia, whom he makes his first violin.
Music, Damiano Michieletto knows! An opera director, he has notably staged “Don Giovanni” at La Fenice, “La Bohème” in Salzburg, and “The Barber of Seville” at the Opéra Bastille. Not surprisingly, he takes an interest in Vivaldi, especially since he is himself from Venice. In “Vivaldi and Me,” his first feature film, he intelligently avoids making it a biopic. Drawing inspiration from the novel “Stabat Mater” by Tiziano Scarpa and perhaps from “Le Grand Feu” by Léonor de Récondo, he gives the status of a central character – the “me” of the French title, disconcertingly trivial – to a young 20-year-old orphan, Cecilia, a prodigious violinist whose life will be disrupted by her meeting with the composer. The Vivaldi shown here by Michieletto is both the introverted musician poorly adapted to social life, who, according to his biography, entered the Ospedale in 1703 at the age of 25, and the famous composer he imagines in the same situation in 1716. Even freedom with the chronology of works: he played in front of the King of Denmark in 1709, and as for the concerto for violin opus 11, it dates back to 1727. But it doesn’t matter. This apparent casualness probably shows that Michieletto is less attached to Vivaldi than to a place, the Ospedale della Pietà and the musical fervor that reigns there, as well as the relationship that will develop between Cecilia and her master. But Vivaldi’s music is at the center of everything. It is never a mere ornament but mostly intervenes in its execution context: the “Follia,” the “Cum Dederit” from the “Stabat Mater,” the concerto grosso opus 3 no 11 played by the young girls by the deathbed of a Venetian noble, and above all, the vibrant rehearsal scenes of the only oratorio ever composed by Vivaldi, “Juditha triumphans.”
But “Vivaldi and Me” is also a testament to Venetian society at the beginning of the 18th century, seen from the perspective of the institution that was the Ospedale della Pietà. An orphanage among others, which welcomed abandoned children, often illegitimate or born into poor families. Famous for its conservatory, it allowed the most talented young girls to receive excellent instrumental or vocal training. They then gave concerts, their faces hidden behind a mask or a church grid. A place of confinement, whose most emblematic image is the dungeon Cecilia will experience. This sense of suffocation is found everywhere, depicted with eloquent framing and superb chiaroscuro. A prison, only slightly softened by the joyful complicity that binds these orphans placed under the terrifying leadership of a mother superior, who, when the time comes, were literally sold to a husband – after passing a virginity test. This is the fate awaiting Cecilia. But promised to the Count of Sanfermo, an officer fighting the Turks, she refuses to give up music, hoping that Vivaldi will come to her aid. “Vivaldi and Me” offers a beautiful portrait of a determined young girl seeking to find her mother and devote her life to her violin. Growing rebellious, her passion for music will give her the audacity to defy the patriarchal society of her time. Around the Ospedale revolve the society of its wealthy patrons, rival noble families, eager to exploit the poverty of these orphans. And then Venice. One might have feared that the film would become a mere postcard. But Michieletto shows no complacency in his approach to the city of doges. The magnificent images he offers of the canals, gondolas, palaces are true works of art but far from being merely ornamental, they always serve the storyline.
In the original title, “Primavera,” besides a reference to Vivaldi’s most famous concertos, whose fervor accompanies certain passages of the film, there is also the image of awakening to life that will be Cecilia’s. Served by two excellent actors, Michele Riondino, a solitary, passionate, and tormented Vivaldi, and above all Tecla Insolai, a Cecilia full of brilliant interiority, “Vivaldi and Me” is a story of emancipation full of elegance and refinement, perhaps not wildly original, but of a quality that can only satisfy the most demanding viewer.
Anne Randon
Vivaldi and Me Italian film by Damiano Michieletto With Tecla Insolai, Michele Riondino Genre: historical drama Duration: 1h51 Release date: April 29, 2026
