A certain reputation always surrounds someone with an Oscar-winning film amongst their credits.  Thus, expectations are high for the feature debut of Piero Messina, the man who worked as assistant director on Paolo Sorrentino's The Great Beauty.  The story here is somewhat simple; a mother gets to know the fiancée of her recently deceased son over the course of Easter weekend at a villa in Sicily.  The mother, Anna (Juliette Binoche), understandably struggles to tell the fiancée, Jeanne (Lou de Laåge), about the death, and this becomes the main source of dramatic tension throughout the film.

In L'attesa (English title: The Wait), Piero Messina does not make it difficult to figure out who his influences are.  We definitely see strands of Paolo Sorrentino and Federico Fellini in the DNA of this film, which unfortunately leaves less room for Messina to introduce us to his own style.  It is enjoyable to see him put a good amount of faith in his performers though, rather than overflowing his film with flashy-camera moves.  Messina creates some incredible images, and paints his scenes with light wonderfully.  He typically films his actors in closeups, which is a smart technique when Juliette Binoche, an actress with the ability to wear pain on her face like a newly-applied layer of makeup, is the person in front of the lens.  That is to take nothing away from Lou de Laåge either.  She plays Jeanne with a child-like inquisitiveness that contrasts well against the more subdued Anna.  A shared glance between these two fine talents says more about the film's themes of regret, guilt, and loss than five pages of dialogue could.

Multiple viewings would be encouraged if one wished to get more of a grasp on parts of the third act.  One scene swings all kinds of doors open as far as narrative interpretation is concerned.  Aesthetically the film feels a little different in the last act, but it is a welcome tonal shift.  One of the final segments of the film achieves a beautiful pairing of image and sound, and is an example of masterful editing.  This scene, oozing with tension, solidified my predominantly positive thoughts on L'attesa.  Piero Messina has crafted an excellent debut feature that should put him on the radars of many film fanatics.  I am excited to see what the future holds for this new Italian treasure.