Looking For Alibrandi

Essay: The film 'Looking for Alibrandi' traces Josephine's Higher School Certificate year. Select four people and/or events from Josephine's final year and discuss how these people or events changed Josephine's perspective.

Melina Marchetta's "looking for Alibrandi" is a story which resembles change internally and externally. In her final school year, Josephine Alibrandi is confused and angry. She is continuously confronted by issues that question who she is as her true sense of identity is clouded. In the beginning, Josie's attitude to the world is negative as she feels burdened by her Italian ancestry, her social status and the fact that she is illegitimate. She sees these factors as great obstacles in her life that make her an outcast who struggles to fit in. Josie's perception and attitude undergoes dramatic change as she continues to learn the true and deeper meanings of life through her experiences and by learning from others. Her grandmother Nona Katia is at first seemed to be one of the main causes for her confusion and unhappiness but as Josie receives and insight to her life Nona turns out to be one of the people who act like the key to the door of realization. Meeting her father, Michael Andretti, is as an important external event in Josie's life as he gives her a sense of belonging and hope. Josie absorbs the definition of life by learning from her suicidal friend John Barton and she allows her self to see beyond her restricted world through her relationship with Jacob Coote.

Nona katia plays a great role in Josephine's life as she imposes all the traditional values and expectations on her. Their opposing personalities and their different views on the world lead to their complicated and resentful relationship. Josie is struggling to understand who she is and where she belongs and Nona continues to title Josie as the 'curse' of the family and aims to make Josie feel guilty about being alive. Reputation and the 'family name' is a top priority for Nona and her actions reflect upon this but Josie does not understand. Nona. At the start of the film, Josie says that she's cursed. "I'm cursed, so is my mamma and my Nona. Well... That is Nona's theory anyway". This is said in the beginning on the voice over, to directly communicate and engage the audience and express Nona's initial views. Josie's difficult relationship with Nona is clearly shown in many scenes such as the scene at Nona's house, where they are fighting and Josie is very rude and disrespectful to Nona. As they argue about 'who Josie belongs to', Nona blames Josie's mother by saying "You are cursed this way because of Christina" "All the curses come from the mother", in her reply Josie offends Nona by saying "So that's why mamma's life turned out that way, because of her mother!". This latter statement is deliberately said in Italian to add strength and emphasize the message it sends across.

Josie and Nona fight a lot because they both strive to prove their reasons which neither of them truly understand themselves. Nona asks for respect and conformity from Josie and Josie is in the search for reasons to Nona's actions. Josephine's tone of speech is ironical and mocking. She continuously confronts without showing any curtsey. The camera adds to the effectiveness of the one on one scene of Nona and Josie by editing, cutting from the close-up of their faces, focusing on their expression. Music is also used to add an effect on their scenes by setting the atmosphere and the mood or by creating suspense. Josie's relationship with Nona improves as Nona's confession gives Josie an insight to Nona's life, enabling her to understand Nona's reasons and to understand the sacrifices that Nona made and also the difficulties she went through. This helps Josie accept who she is and to become aware of her identity.

Josie's father, Michael Andretti has an important contribution to Josie's changing perspectives. At first meeting he was not a great priority to Josie as she did not really think about him. When Josie's mother tells her about Michael Andrettie's arrival, she reacts to the issue calmly as she says "It's not a big deal, we can handle it". Her mother is worried and nervous and Josie is not really concerned at the time. Josie later says sarcastically that "...This year is just starting off perfectly...You know I never thought for a second that I'll actually meet my father, they all seem pretty useless to me". This is said at the school gate where the focus is on the fathers who drop their daughters at school. Josie is confused and is angry as she says "At St. Martha's, its all about money, prestige, and what your father does for living". This creates contrast between what is important at her school and what Josie has in her life. She is at first angry at her father and she's annoyed to see him get close to the family. She ironically says "Who does he think he is? Part of the family?" Josie confronts her father about her existence; she wants him to take notice of her. She says "be rude, or be angry but don't pretend I'm not here", her tone of speech is very discourteous and through this she expresses her feelings very clearly. The camera shots at these scenes add to their effectiveness as it cuts from one expression to another. Close ups and gradual zooms create suspense and prominence. Josie's relationship with her father sees a turning point when she calls him to come to the school to support her in the Carley Bishop incident. Here her father protects her and stands up for her. This makes Josie understand his importance to her and she realizes that he does care for her. Here we are shown that change can be triggered by singular events and even though Josie's initial reactions to her father was hostile and antagonistic, she grows to understand life better and her relationship with her father improves as he gives her a sense of identity and stability which contributes greatly to Josie's self realization.