Dalida

There is often tragedy in beauty. The ones that strive for it, the ones that have probably been scarred sometime in their past and have been mocked in some way. We often view people in the media industry as open prey since they chose that life. Most of them are tormented by some inner demons, or the demons that they find along the way that comes with finding fame. Amy Winehouse? Marilyn Monroe? Most of the demons were caused by inner demons already there and then just not being able to contain them anymore, with unlimited resources.

Dalida. This name was unknown to me, born in the 1982, I was unaware of her death in 1987. I followed the punk range of music, not aware of any type of international crossovers in my small town. It was big news when Selena went from Spanish to English, and then tragedy when she was killed, and that wasn’t even the true tragedy of Dalida. This film was shot not just to focus on someone’s career, or show you all the tawdry details. It was shown to what this woman did to fight for life, love and death…. A young girl with glasses, mocked at a private school (wow, that was literally me), told she was ugly in some way. An Italian family living in Egypt around the end of World War 2, standard loving Italian family, all stationed around a loving mother figure. The family supporting each other, even when the musician father is taken to an internment camp and told it was because he was a suspected Nazi, damaged mentally when he finally was returned to them.

A girl who only had music as a soothing reminder of her life, not the first time that’s been documented, we’ll go into that later. The family moves to Italy and the girls love for music grows, and her voice is something to be worshipped, which is obviously discovered by people attending a concert. Two powerful men in music see her, both seeing the talent, and of course one falls in love with the talent and the girl. It's a standard story, the married important man divorces his wife, and loves the girl with the voice. She wants what every girl wants, a family, a baby. But in this time of the late 1950’s, the woman needs to choose the career or the normal life, greener pastures on the other side? The woman in the house wants to be famous, the woman who’s famous wants the dream life at home. She pushes him for the family and he waits too long, by the time he asks she settles, but doesn’t have the same love as the beginning. The first pangs of loneliness settle in, so maybe time to find a new temporary home for love.

She finds a new temporary lover, but never quite stopping any love for anyone she left behind. This is a repeat pattern, but unfortunately multiple deaths follow her, and not from her fault. Unfortunately this a movie that I don’t want to give away the secrets on.

This movie is a surprisingly relatable story about a woman, one who strived, wanting more and more. She gave in to the worst inner demon, wanting love, wanting admiration, wanting family and success and never ever wanting to feel alone. Occasionally the emotions override, which if anyone doesn’t feel….well you might want to get that checked out. Because there should sometime, be at least one time, that you were not in control of your emotions. Media people keep their emotions on the surface, it’s what they feel when they perform.

Dalida thought if she gave up her music, she would be happier. A wise man asked her what she felt when she sang, and her response was that she felt the music, the song, the life, and he asked her why giving that up would make her feel better. In the book “Valley of the Dolls”, Neely makes the same comment about feeling the music, closing her eyes and almost seeing the notes she hits. She also makes suicide attempts in the books, several.

This woman was the hero that most people didn’t realize, maybe a little bit more realization on what would happen if a real person had the extra life, but without the drugs, or doctors, or bad management. What could really go on, and how far can someone go with each step, before feeling like fighting for your life doesn’t feel worth it. You definitely need to see this movie, if you’re a woman/man, any age, I feel you would gain some perspective from seeing this. Realizing you’re not alone is sometimes the hardest thing in the world, ask anyone. Maybe some song lyrics for you that are also bit more of a nudge to see the movie, and even read the lyrics of some of her most loving and most dark songs.

Alessia Cara – Scars to your Beautiful She says, "Beauty is pain and there's beauty in everything." "What's a little bit of hunger?" "I could go a little while longer," she fades away

The Directors Guild Theater Complex, the 27th April 2017