Before It Had a Name

"The Black Widow (2005 film)" redirects here. For the 2005 film noir musical, see Black Widow (2005 film).

Before It Had a Name is a 2005 film directed by Giada Colagrande and co-written by her and husband Willem Dafoe. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was retitled as The Black Widow when it was released on DVD. It marked the first time Dafoe had developed a project to the point of being shot as well as the first time Colagrande had written in English.^[1]

Before It Had a Name
Film poster
Directed by	Giada Colagrande
Written by	Giada Colagrande Willem Dafoe
Produced by	Brian Bell Rita Capasa Randall Emmett Frank Frattaroli George Furla Avi Lerner
Starring	Giada Colagrande Willem Dafoe Seymour Cassel
Cinematography	Ken Kelsch Brian Pryzpek
Edited by	Natalie Cristiani
Production companies	Bidou Pictures Canary Films Emmett/Furla Films In Between Pictures Millennium Films Nu Image Films
Release date	September 2005 (2005-09) (Venice Film Festival)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$450,000

Synopsis

After her lover Karl dies, Eleonora goes to his New York estate known as 'The Rubber House' in hopes of learning about him. While there, she becomes involved with the property's strange caretaker, Leslie.

Principal cast

Actor	Role
Willem Dafoe	Leslie
Giada Colagrande	Eleonora
Seymour Cassel	Jeff
Isaach de Bankolé	Waiter
Emily Cass McDonnell	Gail
Claudio Botosso	Karl
Bari Hyman	LP

Critical reception

Boyd Van Hoei wrote in Cineuropa:

With its narrow focus on two people in a passionate relationship and its abundant use of metaphors, the film certainly has more in common with the intimate auteur dramas of the old continent than with new American cinema... Whatever the reaction of American audiences will be, Before It Had a Name is certainly amongst the most pleasing – and decidedly auteur – surprises of the Venice Days.^[1]