Representing the contemporary Mediterranean in La vie devant soi and La vita davanti a sé

Abstract

This article focuses on the representation of the contemporary Mediterranean space in the films La vie devant soi (Madame Rosa) (1977), directed by Moshé Mizrahi and La vita davanti a sé (The Life Ahead) (2020), directed by Edoardo Ponti. Although the two films are adapted from the same novel, La vie devant soi (The Life Before US) (1977) by Romain Gary, they present different interpretations of the two main characters, Madame Rosa and Momo. This article argues how processes of (forced) movement of people – such as Holocaust deportation, postcolonial movements, and the current migrations between Africa and Europe – have demonstrated a contemporary ‘Mediterranean space’ that goes beyond its geographical borders, but rather is strictly linked to the people of the Mediterranean who made these movements. By analysing the cinematic Mediterranean space created in and in between these two films, it concludes that movement-induced traumas are intrinsic to the pragmatic existence of this geo-cultural space in contemporary times.