Experiencing Interruptions?

Closed Door

There is a cottage, isolated in the woods of the Tuscan hills. Inside, an ambiguous form of psychotherapy is practiced, based on exasperation and the collective outlet of repressed emotions and impulses. The place looks like a ritual and mysterious context. As if under a spell, the young participants follow the instructions of Elena, the guide. They get agitated, they confess, sometimes they get lost. Where is the line between therapy and suggestion?

  • Michele Gallone
    Director
  • Christian Marsiglia
    Director
  • Michele Gallone
    Writer
  • Sara Parentini
    Writer
  • Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
    Producer
  • Christian Marsiglia
    Editor
  • Michele Gallone
    Editor
  • Francesco Murano
    Sound editor
  • Francesco Mauro
    Sound editor
  • Riccardo Marsana
    Sound mix
  • Claudio Toldonato
    Original Score
  • Rainer Russo
    Original Score
  • Filippo Marzatico
    Colorist
  • Celeste Savino
    Key Cast
    "V.O."
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Porta Chiusa
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Drama, Psychological
  • Runtime:
    20 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    July 15, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    350 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • Country of Filming:
    Italy
  • Language:
    Italian
  • Shooting Format:
    MiniDv
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia - Roma
  • Verona International Film Festival
    Verona
    Italy
    September 9, 2020
    Italian Premiere
    Best Short Documentary 2020
  • Sezze Film Festival
    Sezze
    Italy
    Best documentary / Best director
Distribution Information
  • Premiere Film
    Distributor
    Country: Italy
  • Tersite Film
    Distributor
    Country: Italy
Director Biography - Michele Gallone, Christian Marsiglia

MICHELE GALLONE (Milano, 28 dicembre 1992)
Born in 1992, after the master's degree in Philosophy at the State University of Milan, achieved with a thesis on Jacques Lacan, he graduated in Film Editing at the Experimental Center of Cinematography. He has worked as editor and screenwriter on several short films and documentaries, some of which have been awarded in national and international festivals. Among these, "Strangers" and "Him", both directed by Federico Mottica, and "Shadow Street" directed by Anton Frankovitch. In 2020 he won the Mattador award for best feature film screenplay and the “Cavaliere Giallo” award for best short film script.

CHRISTIAN MARSIGLIA (Capri, 28 luglio 1995)
Born in 1995, from 2018 to 2020 he studied Film Editing at the Experimental Center of Cinematography. During these years he tightened a strong artistic bond with the director Simone Bozzelli with whom in 2020 he edited the short film "J'Ador" which won the award for Best Short at Critics' Week at the Venice Film Festival. In 2021 he edited "Playtime" selected at the Locarno Film Festival in the Leopards of Tomorrow section. He combines his passion for cinema with that for video clips and collaborates with artists such as Margherita Vicario, Pinguini Tattici Nucleari, Måneskin and many others.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

L’incontro con i membri di questa comunità terapeutica, isolata nel verde e nel silenzio compassato della campagna in provincia di Pisa, ci ha spinti a una riflessione su quanto la ricerca di una definizione di sé sia un tratto sempre più urgente e doloroso della nostra esperienza. Si è trattato per noi di interrogare, più che la “bioenergetica” (così si chiama la psicoterapia praticata dai personaggi), il presupposto stesso di una verità soggettiva solida, un vero “me” al di sotto delle maschere e dei modelli cui ci identifichiamo nella quotidianità. Lo spasmodico bisogno di darsi un'identità può trasformarsi in una trottola che gira a vuoto su sé stessa, un dramma che ci riguarda particolarmente in questi tempi di crisi, di incertezza generazionale e di frenesia “liquida” dei rapporti sociali. Un dramma intimo e al contempo legato a doppio filo all’altro, al suo sguardo, al suo giudizio e al suo riconoscimento. Lo scenario raccontato nel documentario si è subito rivelato un’arena emblematica per queste contraddizioni così umane e attuali. Abbiamo cercato di cogliere e restituire queste urgenze nelle tensioni tra i personaggi ritratti, pur lavorando in condizioni quasi “d’assalto”. "Porta chiusa" riprende il titolo di un noto dramma di Sartre, direttamente citato nel film. È l'opera in cui il filosofo francese fa dire a uno dei suoi personaggi la frase rimasta celebre: "L'inferno sono gli altri".

The meeting with the members of this therapeutic community, isolated in the green and the silence of the countryside in the province of Pisa, led us to reflect on how the search for a definition of oneself is an increasingly urgent and painful trait of our experience. We tried to question, rather than "bioenergetics" (the psychotherapy practiced by the characters), the very premise of a solid subjective truth, a real "Me" under the masks and models with which we identify during the everyday life. The spasmodic need to give ourself an identity can turn into a spinning top, a drama that particularly concerns us in these times of crisis, generational uncertainty and "liquid" frenzy of social relations. An intimate drama and at the same time closely linked to the other, to his gaze, his judgment and his recognition. The scenario described in the documentary immediately proved to be an emblematic arena for these human and current contradictions. We tried to grasp these urgencies in the tensions between the portrayed characters. "Closed door" takes the title of a well-known comedy by Sartre, quoted directly in the film. It is the work in which the French philosopher makes one of his characters pronounce the famous phrase: "Hell are the others".