*Spoilers*
A wolf, a moth and crystal tears fashioned from clear glass set the fantastical yet misleading background for Netflix’s latest release “The Tearsmith” on April 4, 2024. Based on the international best-selling Italian novel “Fabbricante di lacrime” by Erin Doom, the film follows the blossoming forbidden romance between Nica (Caterina Ferioli) and Rigel (Simone Baldasseroni) from their time at the Sunnyside Orphanage, dubbed the Grave by the children there. Once Nica and Rigel are faced with the prospect of being adopted by the same family, things become more complicated.
The navigation of complex traumas that Nica and Rigel endured at the hands of the Grave’s cruel matron Margaret (Sabrina Paravicini) becomes a central focus of the story. While Margaret had taken a special liking to Rigel, treating him as her son and using him to enforce her malicious rules, the other children were not given the same fate. Nica specifically faced a majority of Margaret’s cruelty, enduring countless nights strapped to a bed, forced to remain in the dark by her lonesome. Despite their likely future as adopted siblings, the two grow closer as Nica takes care of him during a fever and discovers that Rigel may be more than just her first enemy at the Grave.
Although Rigel and Nica’s relationship falls into a niche category of sibling-ish, perhaps bordering on incest romance, it is nothing that audiences haven’t seen before. Classic films like “Clueless” where Cher dates her ex-step brother Josh and well known TV show “The Fosters” where Callie has a romantic relationship with her foster brother Brandon have explored the nuances of more strange romantic plotlines. Director Alessandro Genovesi does a decent job of drawing the audience’s attention away from the siblings aspect of Nica and Rigel’s relationship as the film progresses and delves more into the connection they formed at the Grave to escape their traumatic experiences which still haunts them.
Despite uncomfortable-to-hear dialogue on Nica’s part, claiming she and Rigel were like brother and sister, it helps to know that Rigel never intended to get adopted. He only accompanied Nica due to his undying love for her, which is revealed when he refused the finalized adoption and learned that this was the first time Rigel left the Grave, despite being wanted by several families in his youth.
Strange yet vaguely interesting would be the best way to describe this film. The unorthodox romance combined with tastefully tacky high school side plots and a recognizable soundtrack should’ve led to more praise. However, even Olivia Rodrigos’ “vampire” and Billie Eilish’s vocals could take attention from the atrocious acting. Despite the build-up of tension between Nica and Rigel, it’s hard to ignore the dry and expressionless delivery of dialogue by both actors. Their romance felt elusive and one-dimensional as it didn’t seem like Nica and Rigel truly understood each other or even spoke often enough to be together.
The terrible acting combined with the production team’s inattention to detail is made even more noticeable through Nica’s interactions with competing love interest Lionel. While Nica is on her way back from purchasing a gift for Rigel’s birthday, she runs into Lionel whose pushiness is supposed to make Nica drop the glass gift. While the intentions of the scene are made clear, the actual execution falls short as Ferioli seems to simply stumble about a bit before losing her grip on the bag. Scenes like this point to an overall lack of care on the part of the editor and director since something as simple as another take could have fixed the issue.
Perhaps the most curious and underexplored aspect of this film falls in the title itself. Throughout the film, Rigel and Nica take turns referring to each other as their Tearsmith — the only individual who can derive such passionate and indescribably feelings of joy and agony from the other. With the title, wolf imagery during the death of Nica’s parents, the audience is partially misled into believing there is a fantastical nature in this film, alluding to a real character as the Tearsmith. However, director Genovesi followed Doom’s novel with the well-deserved persecution of Margaret for her abuses.
The film closes with arguably the worst cliché of all as Rigel awakes from his coma as Nica monologues and weeps by his bedside. Nica and Rigel ultimately get their happy ending pointing to a future free from their traumas at the orphanage, completely forgetting about the few months where they came impossibly close to being siblings.
Verdict: “The Tearsmith” is a strange romance that attempts to capture the complexities of navigating love and past trauma through straight-faced dialogue and below-average acting.
