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A quiet Italian drama about a lesbian couple and the effects their relationship feels when an outsider is introduced into their household.

Anna (Maria de Medeiros) and Mara (Antonia Liskova) are on their way home from a holiday in Tunisia.  Stopped at the border as they head back into Italy, they have a few tense moments when Mara can’t produce her passport.  It’s eventually found under the seat, but when Anna goes to repack the cargo area of the SUV, she’s visibly shocked by something in their car.  She keeps quiet about it until they are well clear of the border station, then pulls over and opens the hold again, revealing a young boy stowed away in their vehicle.

Anis (Mounir Ouadi) is a Moroccan youth who has paid the hotel staff to stow him away in their vehicle so that he can make a new life for himself in Italy.  Anna takes him to a train station, where he’s supposed too meet an uncle, leaving her contact information with him in case anything goes wrong.  Mara thinks that inviting him into their lives is a mistake, and makes no secret of the fact that she wants nothing to do with the boy.

Anis of course doesn’t find the uncle and turns up at their house.  Anna makes him comfortable on the couch and later rebuffs Mara’s advances, foreshadowing the coming trend in their relationship. 

Anna returns to work at the family shoe business, where Mara also works, but on the assembly line.  Anna asks her brother Salvio (Vitaliano Trevisan) to find work for Anis in their shipping area, which he does and is happy with Anis’ work ethic.  Mara meanwhile is dealing with the worsening health of her distant and emotionally abusive father, as well as the fact that Anna’s family doesn’t approve of their relationship.  This is made abundantly clear when they attend a family function (a christening, I believe) and Anna’s mother is cold and dismissive when they try to involve themselves in the conversation.

Mara leaves, her feelings hurt, and Anis goes with her, giving them some time to bond and she begins to let her guard down around him.  Anis puzzles over the girls’ relationship, at first assuming that they are sisters, telling them both at different times that they need to meet a man. 

All three of their lives become more complicated as Anis realizes that his co-workers are stealing from his benefactor’s company, Anna and Mara grow further apart and Anis develops feelings for one of them.

Director Marco S. Puccioni laces Shelter Me with beautiful montages of images that evoke an almost documentary-like approach to the storytelling, particularly the beginning of the film and sequences near the end.  The cinematography is effective and lovely to look at, and his story manages to convey subtle emotions with body language and quiet moments of introspection, rather than telling the audience what they should be feeling.

The screener of Shelter Me provided by Wolfe video featured no extras beyond the film’s trailer, which runs immediately before the feature and gives you a good taste of the visuals to come, but also gives away certain elements of the film better left to discover as they happen.

Shelter Me has a distinctly indie feel to it and wastes no time getting down to the story of these two women, and how an outside force changes their lives and calls into question elements of their relationship and commitment to one another. 

I would definitely recommend giving it a look, though I don’t know how well it will stand up to repeated viewings if one already knows where it’s going.

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