Synopsis
The Embalmer (L'imbalsamatore, 2002) is an Italian drama directed by Matteo Garrone — watch online on iFILM. At a Naples zoo, Peppino, a middle-aged dwarf taxidermist played by Ernesto Mahieux, meets the tall, guileless Valerio and offers him a job as his assistant at an implausibly generous wage. Valerio takes it without reading the subtext.
Peppino convinces himself it is companionship; then, privately, something more. When Valerio moves his girlfriend in, Peppino's quiet obsession tips into control and jealousy. Garrone shoots it without raising his voice — flat Naples light, mundane conversations, but the dread accumulates in the gaps between words. Made four years before Gomorrah, the film already showed what Garrone does best: ordinary settings turned slowly, methodically suffocating. Stream The Embalmer (2002) online on iFILM.
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