“Three Goodbyes”, interview with director Isabel Coixet

Isabel Coixet spoke to Fred Film Radio at the Cinema Made in Italy festival in London about her latest film “Three Goodbyes”, an adaptation of stories by the late Italian writer Michela Murgia. Blending elements of humour, tenderness and melancholy, the film follows Marta and Antonio as their relationship reaches an unexpected turning point, becoming a meditation on love, mortality and what it truly means to be alive.

Adapting Michela Murgia’s world

The acclaimed Spanish filmmaker explained that “Three Goodbyes” draws from two stories in Murgia’s collection, which she combined into a single narrative centred on Marta and Antonio. Although the director never met Murgia, she immersed herself deeply in the writer’s world, speaking with friends, collaborators and family members to better understand her personality and perspective. For Coixet, the film also serves as a way of continuing Murgia’s presence, allowing new audiences to discover her writing through cinema.

Finding humanity in difficult moments

While the story deals with serious themes — including illness and the end of a relationship — Coixet was keen to maintain a tone that reflects the contradictions of real life. Even in the darkest situations, she noted, moments of humour and absurdity inevitably appear. That balance is embodied by the performances of Alba Rohrwacher and Elio Germano, two of Italy’s most acclaimed actors, whose chemistry helps make the characters’ shared history believable even in the brief moments we see them together on screen.

An intimate look at love and memory

Visually, Coixet opted for a more intimate style, shooting on 35mm and framing the film in a 4:3 format to avoid turning Rome into a postcard backdrop. Instead, the focus remains tightly on the characters and their emotional journey. Through small flashbacks and fragmented memories — sometimes evoking the texture of old home movies — the film captures how people remember past relationships and the lingering emotions that come with them.

Presenting “Three Goodbyes” in London as part of Cinema Made in Italy offers Coixet the chance to see how the film resonates with international audiences. While she believes the story is one of the most universal she has made, she is curious to see how British viewers respond. Ultimately, she hopes audiences leave the cinema with a renewed awareness of life’s fragility — and the reminder that, as she puts it, life is short and the only thing we truly have is the present moment.

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