The Kidnapping of Arabella Il rapimento di Arabella

The rambunctious Arabella, eight years old, feels like running away from her boring, distant parents. The disillusioned Holly, twenty-eight, has just been fired from yet another dead-end job; she claims her life took a wrong turn, not ending up the way she had dreamed it would when she was a kid. When the two meet by chance, Holly is convinced that Arabella is her younger self, and the mischievous little girl plays along. Their mission: to rewrite history. On the lam, they embark on an adventure to try to turn back time in the hopes that Holly might yet realize the special life she feels she deserves.

A stylized road movie full of impish hijinks, Carolina Cavalli’s sophomore feature is a whimsical, deadpan, and delightfully bizarre coming-of-age in reverse. Propelled by the dynamic duo of the parallel Hollys—and a surprising, hilarious appearance from Chris Pine speaking Italian—The Kidnapping of Arabella deftly balances the witty and the tender in an earnest exploration of the anxieties of growing up.