After a young girl in her late teens-early twenties is found dead by a lake, everyone in the small village is suspect. An inspector from a larger city is called in to investigate. In true melodrama form there are many long shots of the, it must be said, beautiful village and a score filled with perfectly timed and seemingly anachronistic electronic music. The setting is well suited to a melodrama, indeed all the other recent melodramas of recent years that I can think of off the top of my head (The Deep End, In The Bedroom) also took place near water. The characters are brooding and mysterious, except for a few brief glimpses into their personal lives we don't get much information about them. The drama centers around the girl, Anna, and the family she used to babysit for until the tragic death of their son. The film deals strongly with issues surrounding mental illness. The inspectors own wife is ill and does not recognize him nor their daughter. The man who discovers the body of Anna is also mentally ill and has a strained relationship with his father. Angelo, the boy Anna babysat was so severely ill that his death was something of a relief to his parents. Illness and our ways of coping with becomes the main theme as the film churns slowly to it's conclusion. By the time Anna's killer is revealed it is neither a surprise, nor a relief. Instead this film leaves you pondering what you would do if you were put in any of these characters' situations.
Bottom Line: A well written, constructed and acted film La Ragazza Del Lago is an enjoyable and thought provoking watch. It's on netflix as well so if you have an account and a free evening/afternoon/morning this weekend and are trying to find something to watch this should be a contender.
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