You are here:

Manuel

Name: Manuel
Director: Dario Albertini
Released: 2018
Duration: 95 min

Representation Score

5.3/10

Fair

2018

Director

Dario Albertini

Runtime

95 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Manuel is a social realist drama that explores the lives of individuals caught in the gears of systemic failure. By focusing on characters living on the fringes of society, the film avoids traditional heroic narratives in favor of raw, human complexity. The narrative excels at critiquing the stability of the family unit, presenting a fractured reality where motherhood and youth are shaped by isolation and state intervention. While the film effectively engages with institutional oppression, it lacks specific visibility regarding LGBTQ+ identities and disability representation. It remains a character study of those living in the shadows of social order.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does Manuel have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film does not explicitly show or confirm any LGBTQ+ identities or intimate relationships. Although the setting allows for diverse identities, there is no clear depiction of LGBTQ+ storylines.

How does Manuel portray gender?

Fair

The story balances a male coming-of-age journey with a mother's struggle for redemption. This dual perspective highlights the role of women within a restrictive, institutionalized environment.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Manuel?

Fair

The narrative focuses on a desolate, marginal context that deviates from middle-class homogeneity. However, specific details about ethnic casting remain unconfirmed.

How does Manuel represent religion and culture?

Good

The film strongly critiques Western institutions like the juvenile justice system. It rejects idealized family morality in favor of a complex, anti-institutional worldview.

Does Manuel include disability representation?

Minimal

There is no documented evidence regarding the portrayal of physical, neurodivergent, or mental health disabilities in this work.

Present on Screen

Strong critique of state institutions and the juvenile justice system.
Nuanced portrayal of women's ability to drive the story through the perspective of an incarcerated mother.
Effective use of marginal settings to challenge traditional social and familial structures.

Limited or Absent

Lack of explicit visibility or confirmed representation for LGBTQ+ characters.
Absence of documented representation regarding physical or mental disabilities.
Limited information regarding specific racial and ethnic casting details.

Official Synopsis

An eighteen-year-old boy is released from an institute for minors with no family support, and for the first time tastes the bittersweet flavor of freedom; an imprisoned mother longs to go back and start all over again. These are the characters taken from the real world and transferred into a film that is first of all a shadowing of human beings, of their hopes and little acts of cowardice. But it is also the story of a time of waiting, of a soul going around in circles, a coming of age in a desolate and oppressive, marginal context that becomes a character in its own right.

How are these scores produced? →