Interview with Samantha Casella, director and actress of The Serpent’s Caress

“The Serpent’s Caress” (La Tenerezza del Serpente) draws heavily on Orphic cosmology, the myth of Ananke, and the symbol of the Ouroboros. How did you translate these archetypal concepts into the psychology of your protagonist, Sofia?

Samantha Casella. When I created Sofia, I imagined her as a sort of ‘chosen one,’ the heir to a community picked and ‘touched’ by an entity I transfigured into the Serpent. This is where the connection to Orphic doctrines and the cyclicity of time comes from: her psychology is defined by an unbreakable bond with a predestined fate—one she desperately wants to control, but knows she cannot escape.

As the final installment of your “Subconscious Trilogy”, how do the non-linear narrative structure and references to Holbein and Dostoevsky help explore trauma and the cyclical nature of time?

Samantha Casella. In Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, a character says that Holbein’s The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb is a painting that can make you lose your faith, because it shows a body completely ravaged by death.

In The Serpent’s Caress, Sofia experiences her own form of resurrection and rebirth. Of course, as the narrative moves across different eras and dimensions, this reference isn’t strictly religious, but spiritual: the trauma is that ravaged body, while the non-linear structure reflects the cycle of death and rebirth. I tend to incorporate foundational elements of my own personal growth into my work, and the masterpieces of Holbein and Dostoevsky are a major part of that.

Featuring a commanding cast that includes Bruno Bilotta, Francesca Rettondini, and Laura Trotter, how do their roles intersect with the film’s symbolic, almost mystical dimension?

Samantha Casella.. The characters are never one-dimensional; they are layered and not entirely bound by their own eras.Laura Trotter plays the supreme witch: cruel, wise, and a victim of her own desires. When Sofia destroys the community, the witch crosses dimensions and eras to drag her back to her destiny, aided by her right hand, Lycaon (Bruno Bilotta), who in the present day becomes a messenger delivering a script about their past to Sofia. Francesca Rettondini represents the only anchor to reality: a cynical, rational manager who, despite being subjected to the story’s unreal elements, has unconscious intuitions that allow her to foresee the future. None of them are simple archetypes; each lives within their own complexity.

You have noted that life’s truly fundamental questions are few and universal. What “primordial mystery” do you hope audiences uncover through this journey into the subconscious?

Samantha Casella. Ultimately, this journey challenges the concept of free will. If nothing can change what is meant to be, what responsibility does a human being actually hold? I believe that all human beings fundamentally know right from wrong, and what truly matters in life. My hope is for audiences to realize that even if everything has been predetermined, we still have a duty to fight so that ‘the right thing’ always gets the final word in our lives. We must do everything we can to rise above our circumstances. And in the end, I hope those who try to do the right thing can find the grace to forgive themselves if things turn out differently

Releasing the film directly online via a QR code bypasses traditional distribution channels. Do you view this approach as a form of narrative liberation from mainstream cinema?

Samantha Casella. I believe the world of cinema is changing; every single parameter that defines it is shifting. The approach to stardom is changing, and so is distribution. I think allowing anyone who owns a digital copy of a film to watch it during a major festival—saving a potential viewer the travel and expenses—is deeply democratic. Of course, the magic of the theater is a different experience entirely, and it must stay that way. But I believe that making a film accessible to everyone is a formula we absolutely need to consider.