© Bellota Films / Stemal Entertainment / Elefants Films
In Gen_, director Gianluca Matarrese creates an intimate and layered portrait of Dr. Bini, an Italian fertility specialist whose clinic becomes a meeting point for a diverse range of patients. Cisgender men with fertility struggles, gay couples pursuing parenthood, trans people receiving hormone treatments, and people questioning their own gender identity all pass through his doors. The film moves through these encounters, observing with sensitivity and without imposing a fixed viewpoint.
Directed by: Gianluca Matarrese
Year: 2025
Country: Italy, Switzerland
Length: 103 minutes
Matarrese’s camera observes the spaces of the clinic, attentive to both the tension and the tenderness that surface in small moments. The consultations and the private doubts and dreams of the patients all unfold in front of a lens that never intrudes yet remains curious. This observational style gives the film its emotional power, allowing the viewer to settle into the rhythms of the clinic and the different stories that pass through it.
At the center of all this stands Dr. Bini, a figure whose warmth, humor, and peculiarity hold the film together. He greets his patients not as a guide, sometimes joking with them, sometimes offering unexpected compliments, sometimes lightening the mood by asking about their favorite soccer teams. There is a charm and ease to him that builds trust, even in moments when the patients are vulnerable or anxious. He brings touches of his own personality into his practice, including one memorable moment when he plays Bach on the violin during a procedure. These quirks never feel performative. They are instead part of the deeply human approach he brings to his work.
The film does not limit itself to the confines of the clinic’s walls. It gestures toward broader ethical, social, and political questions. Dr. Bini reflects on the religious beliefs that shape attitudes toward embryos, noting how in Italy, more than in other countries, embryos are treated as full life. He recounts the government’s decision to house Ukrainian embryos to protect them from war, quietly wondering why no similar protections were extended to embryos from Gaza. Matarrese allows these reflections to sit in the air without forcing conclusions, leaving room for the viewer to grapple with the implications.
Even the physical setting of the clinic becomes part of the film’s atmosphere. Positioned in the mountains, with a painting of those very peaks hanging in Bini’s office, the space feels connected to the surrounding landscape, a place where nature and technology intersect. The film pays attention to small moments that show the delicacy of the work. For Example when Bini walks to a nearby construction site to ask the workers to pause, knowing that their vibrations might disrupt a procedure.
Gen_ is a powerful exploration of the intersection of science, identity, and care. Through its quiet observations and its magnetic central figure, it offers a reflection on the ways people seek to reshape their futures and find peace within their own bodies.
Gen_ of Solitude screened at the Visions du Réel 2025 as part of the festival’s “Grand Angle” selection.
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