The bond between two women can be the strongest of them all: sisterhood, motherhood, and any other kind of kinship. Physical distance between two women can fortify the tie, revealing the rarity of such a partnership against all odds of space and time. Under such affirmations, not even nature can defy this type of friendship.

This friendship unites Adele (Tecla Insolia) and Sofia (Romana Maggiora Vergano), long connected and long separated, whom we meet in their hometown in Sicily, as they reunite to relive a childhood plan: to reach the crater of Mount Etna. Both have survived a dark moment, and both have their particularities. As we see them through the emotional intimacy of recurring close-ups, their mutual affections dispel any ominous signs of their encounter. The water of the sea washes off any dark thoughts and prepares the two friends for the longed-for hike. Once reached, however, the foothills of the mountain warn. 

Unhindered, one might think, by the loving tensions between the two visitors, the active volcano (like a female force) thrashes pieces of land in rockslides we do not really see, but we can hear. Adele and Sofia will disregard the already visible perils and will continue their excursion. Secrets between them gather and await the breakdown, like the ticking volcano they try to climb.

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The shot gets grainy when the camera meets volcanic imagery. These moments (which, interestingly, are archival footage) are reminiscent of the dusty and unstable environment of an active volcano, establishing an unavoidable interrelation of the place with the eruptive relationship between the two friends. An unsurprising motif, perhaps, but a beautifully captured one. The timing of the jumps in place and in time carries through the tensions as if in a dreamscape, foreboding an ending (that’s nearly self-evident, so this does not count as a spoiler). At times, the story drifts around a couple of ordinary slips, delivering tropes that fall flat compared to the otherwise expanded, potent narrative. Adele and Sofia stumble across folk tales of the place. There are myths, and there are legends that dress up the story of Idda nicely into a contemporary fable. Quite similar to how Stergios Dinopoulos and Krysianna Papadakis imagined the spirit of a cave in Bearcave (2025). This is an intriguing direction that measures well next to the shift (if not general attention in filmmaking) toward folklore and spirituality. But instances of explicit, erotic intimacy (let alone when they last just too long) divert the attention away.

All in all, Irene Dionisio delivers her sophomore feature film with a solid vision. Remorse can shape one’s view, but eruption is inevitable, careening like an entropic collapse. Rich and timeless. The photography and sound design assist any surrounding concept with aesthetic consistency, and the chemistry of the two women (Italy’s upcoming faces) secures a well-rounded, riveting watch. And a craving for a timely homecoming, at the very least. 

★★★

Premiered worldwide in the Platform section at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.

Idda, 93’ / Dir: Irene Dionisio / Screenplay: Irene Dionisio, Marco Borromei / Producer: Giovanni Pompili / Cast: Tecla Insolia, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Giuseppe De Domenico / Cinematography: Gergely Poharnok / Editing: Aline Hervé / Italy

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