Film note: Sorrowful but beautiful "Vivere"

Angelina Maccarone directs this emotional movie about three women: one who’s suffering a broken heart, another who’s running to be with the one she loves, and a third who is trying to find her voice.

Vivere, a film directed by Angelina Maccarone. Showing on June 27 as part of the Queer Takes film series at the Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis. For tickets ($8) and information, see walkerart.org.

Cab driver Francesca (Esther Zimmering) is the latter. She lives with her Italian father and her younger sister Antonietta (Kim Schnitzer) in a small town in Germany. Their father struggles to come to terms with their mother’s absence, more than ten years after her disappearance. Francesca has no life, and spends her time keeping house and taking care of the daring Antonietta—on whom their father dotes. When the teenage Antonietta takes off for Rotterdam with her musician boyfriend, Francesca finds herself on a long drive from Cologne to Rotterdam. While on the road, she rescues Gerlinde—an older woman pining for her married female lover—from a car accident, and the two ride together to Rotterdam.

The story is told from each of the women’s angles, each perspective allowing us to learn something new about the characters and the events. Nothing major or catastrophic happens in the film, but each woman is faced with potentially life-altering decisions.

The film captures the upheavals in the women’s lives with great photography—notably during the nocturnal drive through Europe’s urban landscape. As the heartbroken Gerlinde guides the two young women in following their hearts, she comes to terms with her own situation. As the title suggests, the film is about living.

Nekessa Opoti is the publisher of kenyaimagine.com, a Kenyan online magazine and newspaper.