Women Who Run With the Wolves

In her seminal work Women Who Run With the Wolves, author and psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés outlines the archetype of the “Wild Woman” — “[who] resides at the center of the female psyche. She is the keeper of creativity, vitality, and intuition.”

This intricate exploration of the untamed inner self finds new cinematic expression in Arsa, the latest entry in Italian arthouse cinema, led by actress GALA ZOHAR MARTINUCCI.

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Still from Arsa (2025). Directed by Masbedo, starring Gala Zohar Martinucci

On the occasion of the release of Arsa, Martinucci stars in a shoot by Christian Werner and Nikki Pauls for 032c.

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The film’s title, Arsa, carries a layered resonance. In Italian, it signifies both “consumed by fire”—evoking imagery of witch trials and burnings at the stake—and “blazing life force.” This duality foreshadows the symbolic intensity of the narrative. On the surface, the plot is deceptively linear: a young woman, Arsa, lives in solitude in the secluded natural reserve on the volcanic island of Stromboli, off the northern coast of Sicily. With binoculars in her hands, she studies the world from afar, observing society rather than taking part in it. Days slip by in ritualistic fashion—she dives into the Tyrrhenian Sea, salvages washed up detritus, and reshapes it into strange, totemic objects, miniature creatures made out of waste and tide.

Little is disclosed about her origins or how she ended up on the island; the only trace of a past is her memories of her late father, a sculptor, who flickers through the film in elliptical flashbacks and dream-like visions. With this loss and isolation, she has grown stronger and emancipated herself, like a cub learning to fend for itself after being cast out from the pack. Her liminality, suspended between waking life and lucid hallucinations, is ruptured when a group of vacationing men arrives. Curious and impulsive, she is drawn toward one of them, yet never relinquishes her wildness, making a true connection impossible. The storyline unfolds as a slow-burn experience, where silence holds more weight than dialogue and meaning emerges through allegorical imagery and layered symbolism.

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Everything in Arsa seems to have been chosen to carry significance—the abandoned silo standing amid the Sicilian steppe, where she retreats to build her sculptures; the peddler, submerged in a mass of colorful balloons, who drifts in and out of her path; the ancient statue lying at the bottom of the sea, always just out of reach. These elements feel like shards of her subconscious, struggling to surface and be integrated—yet their true meaning remains elusive, never fully explained.

Arsa observes the world from far away through her binoculars

This ambiguity is intentional, as one might expect from the directors of the film, the artistic avant-garde duo Masbedo (Nicolò Massazza and Iacopo Bedogni). Known for their transdisciplinary approach spanning installation, video, theater, and cinema to investigate anthropological themes, the duo relishes in disorienting the viewer. “I recall entire evenings, even after long days on set, where the directors, the cinematographer, and the screenwriter kept refining ideas, enriching the film’s many symbolic layers,” Martinucci shares.

At the heart of this dream-like tableau is nature, almost portrayed as a character in its own right: majestic and fragile, raw and overpowering. The landscape of Stromboli embodies this contrast. It’s a place where turquoise waters merge with emerald shrub meadows and sea pines, interrupted by jagged black lava slopes and alien-like molten rock formations.

“The images [of the movie] are steeped in poetry; the rhythm, the sounds—everything converges to create an immersive experience that celebrates the wonder of nature. Even the underwater sequences were approached with the same philosophy, treating the sea floor as a canvas of beauty and enchantment,” explains Martinucci.

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Yet the location’s rawness goes deeper. Stromboli, a living volcano, is an ever-present force. “Every 10 to 15 minutes, it erupts with fire,” she recalls. “Walking on it comes with the constant awareness of danger.” This volatile setting proves to be the perfect crucible for Arsa’s exploration of the modern Wild Woman—a figure attuned to the land, proud, and exuding the primal, almost otherworldly beauty of a mythic nymph.

Still from Arsa (2025). Directed by Masbedo, starring Gala Zohar Martinucci

Apart from the small hut she inhabits, her story unfolds almost entirely in the great outdoors—scaling rugged hills, wandering through the woods, or plunging into the sea to catch fish. Even her rare encounters with others occur in the wild, far from any markers of civilization. She navigates them with the instincts of a wild creature—wary, preemptively defensive, but curious and stalking from afar. Yet, in asserting her autonomy, Arsa teeters into alienation, embodying the film’s recurring leitmotif of the “monster.” First introduced in a flashback by Arsa’s father as a bedtime story, the myth of the monster tells of a fictional sea entity hunted by sailors. Martinucci elaborates:

“Nicolo and Jacopo envisioned the monster as an imaginary creature that is not a monstrous being but rather a peaceful one, trapped and subdued by humans within the confines of a rigid social system. For Arsa, the monster becomes a symbol of freedom—the freedom to be creative, unique, and solitary.”

As a child, Arsa is captivated by this tale, sensing it as an allegory for her own longing for unrestrained existence.

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This tension between liberation and isolation runs throughout the film, culminating in a fragile connection with one of the men visiting the islands, Andrea, and they are bound by a common theme of mourning. Grief, as primordial as the earth itself, momentarily bridges their two worlds. Yet even this bond falters under the weight of Arsa’s uncompromising pursuit of independence. In the end, she chooses to remain on her island, severing ties to preserve her autonomy. Arsa thus becomes a poignant meditation on reclaiming the instinctual, primal self—how it empowers, yet isolates, unless reconciled with the whole of one’s being.

In partnership with Eolo Film Productions