It's Easier for a Camel...

Synopsis: As a little girl, Federica fantasized about having beautiful long hair that would grow back as soon as she cut it, about never-ending cones of cotton candy and about countless adventures that took her to the far side of the world. Now a charming thirty-something-single woman, Federica's fantasies have evolved, adding lovers, stardom, and motherhood to her waking dreams, where Federica continues to press for her everyday life to be as real as the fantasies that invade her. Unfortunately, Federica's daydreams can only provide a meager distraction from the reality she faces. Her career as a successful playwright is heading south, her boyfriend is pressuring her to start a family, a former lover wishes to rekindle an old affair, her sister is barely talking to her, her brother is self-centered and her loving father is terminally ill. And as if to make matters worse, Federica is rich, too rich, and the guilt that consumes her because of it is pushing her over the edge. As Federica struggles to find meaning in her life, she turns to a local priest for guidance who in his attempts to help Federica deal with the contention in her family life, quickly finds his role reduced from parish priest to Federica's personal analyst. The priest/analyst does manage to offer Federica some comfort in regards to the relationships she shares with her lovers, brother, sister and parents, but her extraordinary wealth is another issue entirely. As the priest dutifully reminds her, the gospels warn, "It's easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." If Federica sees Heaven as a place in which she can exist on her own terms, disconnected from the abnormal, antagonistic relationships she shares with those closest to her, then the trappings of her wealth threatens all hope she has for any peace of mind. Wrestling with her feelings about death and responsibility, Federica alleviates the added weight of the haunting guilt that her wealth derives through her vivid imagination, where her reality grows wonderful and, if only fleetingly, gives her the sense that all is perfect in her world. This tragicomic romp is the directorial debut of one of France's most talented actresses, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. Drawing on her own experiences, Bruni Tedeschi based It's Easier for a Camel on her memories growing up in a privileged Italian family that immigrated to France in the 1970s. Fittingly, Valeria recruited her mother, Marysa Borini, to play the part of her on-screen mother in the film despite the fact that Borini had no prior experience as an actress. The extraordinary cast in this breezy, witty comedy includes Chiara Mastroianni, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Denis Podalydès, Lambert Wilson, Roberto Herlitzka, Emmanuelle Devos and Yvan Attal.   Source: New Yorker Films