‘The Fire Within You’ Review: An Insufferable Christmas Eve Family Drama in Which the Corrosive Rants Are as Noxious as the Dyspeptic Images

A mother from hell teeters around with a glass in hand pouring bile on everyone in reach, but because she’s the “mamma,” Eduardo De Angelis mistakenly believes she deserves our sympathy.

By Jay Weissberg

Jay Weissberg

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Let’s hope there was a giant extractor fan on the set of “The Fire Within You,” because the stench of burnt oil must have been overwhelming. It’s not only food that gets blistered in Edoardo De Angelis’ overwrought screaming match, which makes one envious of the wax Odysseus had handy to plug up his sailors’ ears. In his case, the sounds were of sirens, whereas the characters here would give the harpies a run for their money, making them seem almost dulcet-toned in comparison. Set in a family’s apartment on Christmas Eve and featuring a mother so monstrous not even the Ancient Greeks could have conjured her up, one can only imagine what kind of pressure was on the Venice Film Festival to place it in competition.

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