Paolo Virzì Film Sparks Family Outrage: Block Request Denied

Cinema at the gate. The latest film by Paolo Virzì, Five seconds ended up in Court in Florence, at the center of a judicial litigation which it proposes to block its distribution and a compensation for damages.

In the film there is a character, Matilde Guelfi Camaianifreely based, according to the production, on a character who actually existeda Tuscan countess.

And heir of the historic Tuscan noble caste, Stefano Guelfi Camaiani, nephew of Countess Matilde Guelfi Camaiani, has sued the two companies that produced and distributed the film, Greenboo Production srl, and Indiana Production srl, because she believes it was violated the good name of the familyand above all that there was no agreement to be able to use the name of the aunt and the family: «In the film the family is represented as fallen nobles, involved in events of financial ruin, drug use, crimes, suicide and psychiatric problems». «There are various judicial aspects of this matter and at the moment I can’t say anything in particular, but I’m extremely annoyed for this situation because it bothered me a lot,” he explained.

As a precautionary measure, therefore, with an emergency measure, he asked the Florentine judges to block the diffusion of the film for «the violation of the right to one’s personal identity and to the confidentiality of one’s existence and family history”.

In recent days, judge Carolina Dini, of the first civil section of the Court of Florence, issued an order rejected the requestbut the trial will continue on its merits in the coming weeks.

In future hearings the Florentine judges will have to determine whether the film violated the heir’s rights and whether or not the conditions exist for a compensation for damagesas well as deciding whether to block the release of the film itself in the future.

At the moment the first judicial round has been won by the companies that produced and distributed Paolo Virzì’s film because, as mentioned, the judge did not grant the precautionary block: «The film is presented to the public as a work of fictionthe overall result of the artistic creativity of the authors, then explicitly appears in the film’s closing credits, the ritual sign affixed to every work of this genre”.

Here the judge’s order refers to the well-known wording: «The facts and characters narrated and/or represented in this film they are absolutely imaginary and fruit of the authors’ imagination. Any reference to real or living people and to actual events is purely random».

According to the Florentine Court, there therefore does not appear to be any danger that the family story narrated in the film will be perceived as true by the public, as the work contains repeated warnings to the viewer that they are faced with fiction. «Therefore, the requirements for the granting of precautionary protection are not considered to exist».

But the judicial proceedings still has to continue addressing the merit.

Go to all the news of Florence

Subscribe to the Corriere Fiorentino newsletter