Around 10 minutes into “The Spiral”, things take a sharp turn that I just didn’t see coming. It was one of those “Oh, we’re going there” moments that definitely had me lean in a little closer. If you’re unsure whether this is a horror thriller, this moment will confirm it. That said, Italian director Paolo Strippoli offers something far from your average horror flick. It’s a Faustian family mystery, where secrets and lies weave through one family’s absorbing, if unexpected, drama. After debuting at the Venice International Film Festival last month, where it competed for the Golden Lion, “The Spiral” is now in the lineup at the Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF), which runs from October 14th through 25th.
Who threatens this affluent Italian family of four? It could be Anna (Jasmine Trinca), the tightly wound matriarch, who, as the film opens in 2026, shows up at her twenty-something daughter Alice’s (Romana Maggiora Vergano) apartment on a rainy day in Rome, intent on dropping some devastating news. It could also be The Stranger (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), a chain-smoking woman who seems to have walked out of a film noir as a femme fatale in a camel trench coat, her hair in a pristine bob. Actually, you could say they are both the antagonists here. When The Stranger approached Anna back in 1999, offering to save the life of one of her children at the risk of jeopardizing her other one, the mother had no idea how the repercussions of her decision would plague her family and haunt her the rest of her life.
The damage Anna unintentionally inflicted on her family may have started early on, as she groomed a young Alice (Gabriella Telegrafo) for an acting career, living vicariously through her daughter a career she wished she’d had. Anna is elated that, at 7, Alice has landed a gig in a Barilla pasta commercial. Such an opportunity is suddenly diminished when Alice is involved in a horrific accident during a lavish garden party being thrown at the family’s estate. Anna and her husband, Walter (Adriano Giannini), along with Alice’s older brother, Tobia (Alessandro Carbonara), are stunned and paralyzed with grief as the doctor treats the hospitalized Alice. When Anna enters the hospital chapel, expecting to collect herself, maybe pray and cry a little, that’s when Bruni Tedeschi’s velvety-voiced Mephistopheles horns her way into the distraught mother’s world.
Strippoli co-wrote this macabre tale with Salvatore De Chirico, and their screenplay tightens the screws on this family as the story unfolds. The family member hit hardest is Tobia (played by Andrea Genovese as he ages), who bears the brunt of his mother’s secret decision. Tobia can’t live up to his father’s expectations and dreams, winding up in a spiral of depression and an insatiable appetite. The family’s economic comforts cannot bring harmony, and while each parent’s unreasonable expectations may come from love, they’re smothered by control and cruelty. Much of the film touches on familiar family dynamics, economic privilege, turbulent growing pains, and how bad decisions can have lifelong impact, but Stippoli’s way of weaving these elements into a genre story is undoubtedly compelling.
The Italian title of “The Spiral” is understandably “L’estranea,” or “The Stranger,” but that gives too much away. I’ve been purposely vague in describing the film, since the turns are best experienced cold. The film features visual references to spirals throughout, whether in cloud patterns, fierce moving water, or a line of ants emerging from their anthill. The spiral motif isn’t subtle, but with everything going on in this film, these stylistic allusions remind us of the many ways life can spiral out of control.
This is Stippoli’s fourth feature, all of which have been Italian horror films. Last year’s “The Holy Boy” also debuted at Venice and played at CIFF, eventually finding a home on Shudder. “The Spiral” will be Italy’s submission for Best International Feature Film at next year’s Oscars.
RATING: ***
“The Spiral” will play twice at CIFF:
Tuesday, October 20th at 5:15 pm & Wednesday, October 21 at 5 pm; director Paolo Strippoli will attend both screenings to discuss the film.
