The Wonders

Winner of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix, The Wonders is a startling second feature from writer-director Alice Rohrwacher. It centers on Gelsomina (Maria Alexandra Lungo) the eldest daughter of a bee-keeping family in rural Tuscany. Her late-in-life exposure to the modern world - in the form of a chintzy reality TV show and its glamorous hostess (Monica Bellucci) – are at odds with her father's proudly traditional way of life. Within its framework this film delivers an intimate response to the age-old conflict between modernity and tradition.