Francesco Munzi's The Rest of the Night (2008)

Portraits from Francesco Munzi's The Rest of the Night (2008) of unheard voices:

Maria

Maria is Romanian and a maid. She's accused by her mistress, not directly, of stealing her pair of pearl earrings. While serving dinner, the master asks Maria has she seen them. A look of guilt or fear from the accusation appears on Maria's soft face. She is terminated. Maria later reveals in the palm of her hand the pearl earrings, and she freely admits to have taken them. Whether she took them after the accusation or before is entirely unknown. Unable to find work, she goes back home into the arms of a old lover, where she is met with both contempt and warmth. Maria hurt the one she might have or might have not loved before, but he welcomes her again. Maria will not have a stable home.

Silvana

To the best of my knowledge, her name is never spoken or acknowledged within the film. Silvana is wealthy. And alone. She attends a self-help lecture at the beginning where the lecturer asks his audience to abandon the Western world's fixation on material wealth and surrender. Silvana is accosted by gypsy children on the way home. Her husband acknowledges her when she is speaking by responding with speaking of his own. He doesn't listen. Her husband has someone else. Her teenage daughter has someone else. Silvana has no one. The people who she loves around her hurt her, and Silvana hurts the ones around her who she does not love.

Marco

To the best of my knowledge, his name is never spoken or acknowledged within the film. Marco is an addict at the height of his addiction and near the lowest part of his life. He lives with his mother and is resentful that he is under judicial supervision. Marco has a very young son, Luca, who lives with his mother and her new man, Ahmed. Marco is angry that his son has taking a liking to his mother's new man, so Marco takes Luca. Marco could have Luca without taking him but he feels as if he needs Luca to get out from under the eye of the court. Marco is a thief and doesn't think that anyone cares about him. Marco has long abandoned any love that he once might have had for himself.

Ionut

Ionut is Romanian and a thief. He lives in squalor with his younger brother with hopes that his earnings will allow them a better place. His mother recently died. His heart was recently broken. Ionut is tired. A woman that he once loved comes back into his life, and the day-to-day sadness is lifted. Ionut is energized, but his new energy makes him move hastily. The patience for a better life diminishes, as he is willing to risk everything for a heist. The risk will be highly successful if Ionut is successful or shattering if Ionut fails. Ionut has the biggest and most trusting heart.

Victor

Victor is Romanian and alone. He alternates between feeling a burden, ignored, and an outsider. He's quiet and loves his brother more than anyone in the world. If he has to sleep on the couch, then he will sleep on the couch. If his brother asks him to go out into the cold for an hour, then Victor will go out into the cold for an hour. Victor will follow his brother into a better life or a worse one as long as he is with his brother. In the end, Victor is a Romanian and he might not be alone.