ITALY – 1990 – DCP – color – 91’

Direction: Sergio Rubini
Screenplay: Filippo Ascione, Umberto Marino, Sergio Rubini based on the eponymous comedy by Umberto Marino
Cinematography: Alessio Gelsini Torresi
Editing: Angelo Nicolini
Set design: Carolina Ferrara,Luca Gobbi
Music: Antonio Di Pofi
Costumes: Carolina Ferrara,Luca Gobbi
Cast: Sergio Rubini (Domenico), Margherita Buy (Flavia), Ennio Fantastichini (Danilo), Michel Rocher (Federico), Nicola Misciagna (Silecchia), Mariangela Ayala, Mariella Capotorto, Jean Herbert, Pietro
Genuardi
Producers: Domenico Procacci
Production: Fandango

SYNOPSIS

Domenico, station master in S. Marco in Lamis, spends his lonely nights in his office watching television, studying a little German and timing everything with meticulous precision. But one evening, during a torrential rainstorm, a young woman, Flavia, bursts intothe office: she’s upset and wants to immediately join her father in Rome or her mother in Milan. Unfortunately, there are no trains until the next morning and the woman is forced to stay there to wait for the convoy. Flavia has realised that her fiancé Danilo doesnot love her, but just wants to use her to conclude a profitable deal, she being the daughter of a wealthy banker. She has fled from anearby villa where the man had taken her and wants nothing to do with him anymore. Domenico listens to her, understands her. A relationship of friendship and solidarity arises between the two…

CRITICAL NOTE
“The extreme economy of the necessary means is the result of the faithful adoption of a theatrical structure; Rubini, however, is maybe the only one among the beginners of his time to bend this source to a personal idea of cinema, and the transition from an expressive code to another is much less slavish than one might think. The history of cinema is studded with masterpieces based on the idea of few characters confined to an enclosed space. WatchingThe Station, one does not get an all-encompassing impression of “theater in a box”, but of a cinema work shot in a claustrophobic atmosphere, with precise repercussions in terms of style and language.” (Massimiliano Schiavoni,Quinlan.it, 25/3/2015)

AWARDS
1990 Venice Film Critics’ Week:  FIPRESCI FIPRESCI Award, Kodak-Cinecritica Award
1991 David di Donatello Awards: Best New Director, Best Leading Actress
1991 Silver Ribbons: Best New Director, Best Leading Actress
1991 ItaliaGolden Globes: Best First Film
1991 Golden Ciak Awards: Best First Film, Best Leading Actress
1991 Golden Sacher Awards: Best Cinematography