Review: In 'Trifole,' the age-old hunt continues for truffles and intergenerational bonding
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To watch “Trifole” is to fall in love with Langhe, a gorgeous section of the Piedmont region of northern Italy.Famed for its farming, cheeses and wine, this hilly, rural countryside feels cut off from modernity: an agrarian past perfectly preserved in an uncertain present.
Among Langhe’s hallmarks is its rich tradition of truffle foraging, which becomes the centerpiece for director Gabriele Fabbro’s gentle drama about an aging truffle hunter, his restless granddaughter and a way of life vanishing before their eyes.Unfortunately, this heartfelt film resonates most strongly through those majestic landscapes, not via the story that unfolds.Constructed with the elemental purity of a fable, “Trifole” introduces the viewer to Dalia (Ydalie Turk), who’s in her late 20s and visiting her grandfather Igor (Umberto Orsini).
The trip is a reluctant one for Dalia.Prompted by her anxious mother Marta (Margherita Buy), she’s taking a break from her stalled life in London to check in on him because of Marta’s concern that his failing memory may require him to abandon his beloved crumbling cottage and enter a nursing home.
When Igor initially mistakes Dalia for his daughter — Dalia’s mother — his confusion validates Marta’s worries.Happy to live out the rest of his days in his remote paradise alongside his loyal dog Birba, who ably assists him in his truffle hunts, Igor is displeased that Dalia has rejected her family roots for the big city.Indeed, Dalia has trouble with her Italian, and when she offers to help him find truffles, he insists his granddaughter doesn’t have the instincts or the calloused hands necessary for the job.
But Igor isn’t just adept at sniffing out truffles — he quickly deduces that she’s emotionally lost.(A writing career hasn’t materialized as she’d hoped.) Both of them are at a crossroads, neither sure what the future holds.
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