‘Transparent’ Star Trace Lysette And Patricia Clarkson Play an Estranged Daughter and Mother Who Connect in ‘Monica’ – Watch U.S. Trailer (EXCLUSIVE)

Los Angeles-based Italian director Andrea Pallaoro’s delicate drama “Monica” is finally set to open in U.S. theaters via IFC following its world premiere at last year’s Venice Film Festival.

The film starring transgender actor Trace Lysette (“Transparent”) as a woman who returns home to the Midwest to care for her dying mother, played by Patricia Clarkson, marked the first time an openly-transgender actress headlined a Venice competition title.

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In “Monica” Lysette plays a woman who from Los Angeles goes back to her suburban midwest home for the first time since she was a teenager to care for her mom who had rejected her when she transitioned.

“For me, it was always crucial that Monica was an expression of a woman who returns home and really connects,” Pallaoro told Variety when the film launched from the Lido.

“Who forgives, and finds a connection with the world that she had left behind for a number of reasons. And the trans experience that is explored in the film is not in the context of transitioning per se, but of the relationship that the character has with the rest of the world,” the director went on to add.

In his review Variety Chief Film Critic Peter Debruge praised “Monica” for being “Conceived with uncommon sensitivity toward the interior lives of its characters, as well as to the shifting codes of trans representation.” He called it “A film about making amends, where the person who deserves the apology is also the one doing all the work.” Debruge also pointed out that besides his powerful lead, “The director was incredibly lucky to land Clarkson, a master of meaningful microexpressions, who excels at speaking volumes without opening her mouth.”

“Monica” will open on May 12 at the IFC Center in New York and the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles with an unspecified national theatrical expansion to follow and, down the road, VOD play and an exclusive streaming platform rollout on AMC+.

The film’s producers are Christina Dow, Eleonora Granata-Jenkinson, Andrea Pallaoro, Gina Resnick.

“Monica” marks the third feature for Pallaoro, after “Medeas” in 2013, and “Hannah,” starring Charlotte Rampling which won Venice’s Coppa Volpi for the best actress in 2017.

Check out the trailer below:

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