Italian director Andrea Pallaoro’s intimate drama Monica is set to make its US theatrical debut after making its world debut at the Venice Film Festival last year. The movie takes a look at the life and emotions of its titular character, played by transgender actor Trace Lysette, as a woman who returns to her Midwest home, years after transitioning, to take care of her dying mother. The film addresses the universal themes of abandonment, aging, rejection, acceptance, and forgiveness.
The new trailer gives us a peak into Monica’s world as she returns home, as Monica reconnects with her family we see her state of mind, pains, and fears. It shines a light on the needs and desires of a woman whose journey ultimately illuminates the human condition. The short clip highlights some powerful performances from its ensemble star cast as Lysette and She Said alum Patricia Clarkson as her mother paints a complicated picture of an estranged mother-daughter relationship.
Stories like Monica are crucial to our constantly evolving society for its representation of emotion and complexities that rarely finds a place in mainstream media. Speaking of his film, the director who co-wrote the screenplay with his long-time collaborator Orlando Tirado, previously told Variety, for him “it was always crucial that Monica was an expression of a woman who returns home and really connects.” Adding, “Who forgives, and finds a connection with the world that she had left behind for a number of reasons. And the trans experience that is explored in the film is not in the context of transitioning per se, but of the relationship that the character has with the rest of the world.”
Who is Behind Monica?
The movie marks the third feature for Pallaoro, after his 2013 feature Medeas, and Hannah, starring Charlotte Rampling which won Venice’s Coppa Volpi for the best actress in 2017. The movie features Lysette as Monica, Clarkson as their mother Eugenia, Emily Browning as Laura, Adriana Barraza as Leticia, and Joshua Close as Paul among others. The feature is produced by Christina Dow, Eleonora Granata-Jenkinson, Andrea Pallaoro, Gina Resnick. While co-producers include Antonio Adinolfi, Riccardo Di Pasquale, Marina Alessandra Marzotto, Mattia Oddone, and Gabriele Oricchio.
Monica will bow in theatres on May 12 at the IFC Center in New York and the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles and will be followed by an exclusive streaming rollout on AMC+. You can check out the new trailer below: