The Solitude of Prime Numbers
The Solitude of Prime Numbers
| 10 October 2010 (USA)
The Solitude of Prime Numbers Trailers

Prime numbers are divisible only by one and themselves. These numbers are solitary and incomprehensible to others. Alice and Mattia are both "prime", both haunted by the tragedies that have marked them in childhood: a skiing accident for Alice which has caused a defect in her leg, and the loss of his twin sister for Matthew.

Reviews
CheerupSilver

Very Cool!!!

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Flyerplesys

Perfectly adorable

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Kailansorac

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

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Senteur

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

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Raymond

Watched this on mubi. One of the better european dramas I've seen lately, altho it's not that new anymore. There doesn't seem to be too many popping up lately, in my opinion.The movie apparently is based on a book and also scripted by the author. I haven't read the book, so I don't know how the movie compares.Story follows a girl and a boy, later woman and a man, through years from about 8 years old to 30 something. Mostly concentrating on childhood. The script is non-linear so things don't always go as expected and can be a bit confusing.For some time we follow a lonely - but very much adored - young girl at a ski resort. At another storyline we have a smart boy of same age and his mentally challenged sister of also same age. In between we have extracts of seemingly same kids at their teens where their stories connect. A lot and probably dramatic things seem to have happened tho, since the kids are not exactly happy in their teens anymore, if they ever were.The boy is easy to follow as there is just one of them, but for a good while I mixed up three girls, partly because they look quite different at different ages, but also because they act quite differently and as the movie is non-linear, a lot has happened that we don't yet know. I'm not sure if this was deliberately done, but it confused the hell out of me.The movie eventually reveals events from both the girls and boys lives which have dramatically affected them. In this regard the story is very strong and gripping, sometimes very hard to watch as a parent myself.The prime numbers part is an interesting thought. It doesn't add much to the movie tho, other than a nice title and an intriguing analogy.

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ricabailey

I haven't read book but was attracted by title. First 30 mins was good. Such promise. Sadly after that it was a complete waste of time. Rather than spend time writing a further review I can say Mendhak's review perfectly sums it up: "a jumble of time-lines and a storyline filled with teenage angst and pointless drama. It is also full of needlessly prolonged scenes that make no sense, but which you can feel the director congratulated himself over. Also, this movie has nothing to do with prime numbers. Prime numbers may have been mentioned in one or two sentences in the movie, but were never the focus. I wonder if there was a better reason in the book for using the words 'prime numbers'. " Don't waste your time on it...even the cinematography descended into rubbish after first 30 mins....

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Roger Burke

The title of this movie was my prime stimulus to watch it: not only to deconstruct the meaning but also because a movie about math - apparently - might provide a unique filmic experience, I thought. Well ... I'm correct about the first, but not the second.Happily for viewers, it's not all about math. But the story is about a young man who is, at an early age, recognized as a math genius. We follow him, Mattia (Luca Marinelli) and his childhood companion, Alice (Alba Rohrwacher), as they both grow up, through their teen years and on to adulthood. Both are introverted to the point of almost total withdrawal; both indulge in aberrant behaviors; both experience intense personal and psychic pain early in life which heightens their isolation; but, also, both recognize each other for what they are - primal individuals unable to communicate according to society's dictates. For the next twenty plus years, they each try to establish a lasting relationship with each other. During the course of that time, they briefly meet, in person, perhaps on five or six occasions; at the end of the story, Alice sends a short, urgent letter, to which Mattia responds in person. At all other times, we see their lives unfold individually as they each grapple with the many obnoxious (or helpful) people who intrude upon their solitary existences.Some viewers might find the plot too slow; indeed, a few sets and scenes do include long static shots, particularly facial close-ups. What's more annoying, though, is the elliptical structure of the story as it cuts between three different time periods; which I'm sure will tend to confuse some or even many viewers. Having read the novel - brilliant writing which worked exceedingly well as a linear narrative - I'm still puzzled why the director decided upon disjointed flashbacks. Visually, it doesn't work well at all; frankly, it lessens the dramatic tension, especially when compared with the novel.My overarching criticism, however, concerns the ending, the resolution to Mattia's and Alice's solitary anguish. In the novel, it ends realistically and appropriately, I thought. This movie's end is, unfortunately, hopelessly Hollywood.The production is competent, although I think the music is too loud at times. The cast and acting are fine. In view of my above comments, though, my recommendation is: read the novel, forget the movie. Give it 5 out of 10, barely.May 2nd, 2016

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Sarah Kelly

Mattia Balossino is a boy who lost his mentally problematic twin sister Michela in a park. Alice Della Rocca is a girl who suffered a ski accident. These two kids are shown in five moments of their lives, from the childhood to the adult life, always carrying the strain of their choices over the years.Mattia and Alice knew each other at school in their teens, and for some unknown reason developed a relation based on strangeness: the strange boy that doesn't talk too much and the strange limping girl; the strange bulimic girl and the strange boy who cuts himself.The story of the movie is not linear. It passes from 1984 until 2009, during different moments of the protagonist's lives. There are gaps that the movie doesn't make clear, and by reading the book you'll have the same difficulty to discover some things. The Solitude of Prime Numbers is an open and never-ending story. It could be about me, you, and anyone.Why the "Prime Numbers"? Because a prime number is only divisible by itself and by 1. These numbers are faded to be alone, forever, like Mattia and Alice. Besides, Paolo Giordano, the author of the book, is a particle physicist with a PhD at the University of Turin, Italy.The great book story was adapted to the big screen by its own author, Paolo Giordano. Some say that the book was better and there are points of the story that changed... all those things that people say when they like the book better than the movie. Don't let them confuse you: The Solitude of Prime Numbers is a good movie in what it intends to be.The soundtrack is as disturbing as his creator, Mike Patton, the leader of Faith No More. Alba Rohrwacher is an amazing actress and won a fair prize for her role of adult Alice. Young Mattia is also well played by Vittorio Lomartire.

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