The film portrays a troubled relationship between a street artist mother (Alba Rohrwacher) and her saxophone-playing daughter (Maayane Conti) who competes with the mother's dog Marcel for affection. It is Marcel (the only character in the film to have a name) who takes part in the mother's performances, while the daughter is not allowed to. When Marcel has an accident, the daughter comforts her distraught mother and the two set off on a trip in preparation for a street art festival, staying with a cousin on the way.[1] Rohrwacher and Conti had played the roles of mother and daughter in Trinca's 2020 short film Being my Mom before reuniting for Marcel, the director's first feature film.[2]
In the words of the director: "Marcel! doesn’t necessarily tell the truth, but focuses on portraying credibility; a place where things happen but more so, a world of projections where love is the core of it all. It is an attempt to rewrite a motherdaughter relationship where cruelty and care coexist, and it is shared by two women who are growing up."[3]
In a review for Screen International, Jonathan Holland described the film as a "delicate, well-observed homage to mime, to silent film, and to Rome in summertime" that "carefully and lovingly blends different tropes into a distinctive and often engaging part-real, part-fantasy world".[5]
