The Macaluso Sisters main backdrop
The Macaluso Sisters main poster

The Macaluso Sisters

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7.1/10 • 150

2020-09-101h 29m

Drama

Maria, Pinuccia, Lia, Katia and Antonella are five sisters who live in an apartment in Palermo. They make a living by renting doves for ceremonies. On a normal day at the beach, tragedy strucks.

Directors
Emma Dante
Editors
Benni Atria

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Viola Pusatieri

    Viola Pusatieri

    Antonella

  2. Eleonora De Luca

    Eleonora De Luca

    Young Maria

  3. Simona Malato

    Simona Malato

    Adult Maria

  4. Susanna Piraino

    Susanna Piraino

    Young Lia

  5. Serena Barone

    Serena Barone

    Adult Lia

  6. Maria Rosaria Alati

    Maria Rosaria Alati

    Old Lia

  7. Anita Pomario

    Anita Pomario

    Young Pinuccia

  8. Donatella Finocchiaro

    Donatella Finocchiaro

    Adult Pinuccia

  9. Ileana Riganò

    Ileana Riganò

    Old Pinuccia

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Mar 19, 2025

7/10

There are five siblings all living in the same house in Sicily, of varying ages, and this film takes us through their lives, loves, trials and tribulations as they must deal with each other and their respective choices and aspirations as they all grow older and deal with tragedy. It’s told back to front, really, as we reflect on the life of “Antonella” (Viola Pusateri) whilst dancing around the timelines of what’s gone before. It was probably easiest to depict the initial stages of their lives as youngsters growing up and meeting life’s new challenges in different ways - boys, girls, hormones, you name it, and for me that segment of the film works best. As they all mature, though, it rather stagnates - a fair reflection on a daily grind best epitomised by the eldest, “Maria” (Eleonora De Luca) who has to take responsibility at a fairly young age and who never really loses, or knows how to lose, that, but not always the most scintillating to watch evolve. It’s that despair, with or without a capital ‘D’ that, together with the house in which they live, provides a rather depressing template for a story that sucks the joy and hope from their characters and leaves them as once aspirational now shells of women whom I found it quite difficult to either relate to nor to sympathise with. What I did like was the paucity of dialogue as it progressed. The imagery, repetitive at times but poignant too, starts to leave our own imagination to do some of the heavy lifting here as we fill in our own interpretation of many of the elements we don’t see or learn about directly from the screenplay. It’s at times quite a powerfully objective look at the constraining nature of close and intimate family life, but with little real attempt made to give these ladies much depth, I struggled to remain engaged.

Media

  • The Macaluso Sisters poster
  • The Macaluso Sisters poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
Italian
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
family drama