NZIFF: Gloria!

An energetic re-envisioning of Baroque music through the lens of the fiery female composers whose revolutionary work was concealed throughout history.

“Gloria! is dedicated to all the female composers who, like flowers left to dry, were hidden in between the pages of History.”

Venice, 1800. A women’s orphanage and a prideful priest. Gloria! has the foundations of a slow-burn period piece. However, the setting proves irrelevant to this energetic and refreshing film about women, power, and freedom.

Appropriate to the period, Gloria! is full of dramatic and flourishing Baroque-style music. These pieces are associated with Perlina (Paolo Rossi), the priest who oversees the main setting: a religious institution for orphan women raised as musicians. Perlina despises many things, including progression. Under his eye is Teresa (Galatéa Bellugi), a mute servant who yearns to express herself through music as she watches the orphanage orchestra, yet is punished for any form of transgression.

Much like its rhythmic editing, honest female characterisation, and – of course – music, Gloria! tells the story of a group of women breaking the glass ceiling made up of traditions that hindered their creativity, freedom, and their voices. The discovery of the pianoforte punctuates a shift in power, and the origination of a silent coup against the powers that be. Gloria! speaks to any creative who has felt restrained or silenced. — Huia Haupapa