This Italian Romance Film Is Hitting Netflix's Top Charts Worldwide
As the streaming wars rage on, there's one area where Netflix completely dominates all of its competition — international cinema. While the streaming juggernaut is still working on perfecting its subtitling and audio description services (as well as its localization issues), there's no denying that Netflix has a swath of non-English speaking films and TV shows to help expand the tastes of subscribers worldwide. The streaming platform also has no problem highlighting international projects as well, with entertainment from South Korea frequently landing on the Top 10 charts. According to FlixPatrol, a new teen fantasy romance film out of Italy is currently landing on the Top 10 charts in countries all over the globe, despite the film debuting on Rotten Tomatoes with a painful 0% as of publication. If this movie is as bad as critics are making it out to be, how the heck did it end up charting worldwide?
The Italian language film is based on the novel of the same name ("Fabbricante di Lacrime," in Italian) by Erin Doom, and was a huge hit in 2023 on the "BookTok" side of TikTok. The story centers on Nica (Caterina Ferioli), a young woman who grew up in an abusive orphanage, living out fantastical stories to escape from her treacherous existence. One of those tales is that of The Tearsmith, a man who makes tears and gives them to the people in a world devoid of emotion. She is adopted into a family at the age of 17 and thinks her worries are behind her, but the family also adopts a boy from the orphanage: Rigel (Simone Baldasseroni), her nemesis.
"The Tearsmith" is also a romance story ... so I think you can predict where this story is heading and why so many people are tuning in to see how this all plays out.
The allure of forbidden love
Okay, okay, I didn't want to be the one to say it, but "The Tearsmith" is about two adopted siblings falling in love. Of course, they're not actually related, so there's nothing super gross going on, but they are two people who have known each other since childhood having grown up together at the orphanage ... so they might as well be. To make matters worse, Nica's adoption is a trial period, and if she upsets her new family, she can be sent back to the orphanage at any time, so she has to be on her best behavior. Given the book's popularity, a majority of the views on Netflix are likely fans checking in to see how the adaptation turned out.
Unfortunately, I don't foresee "The Tearsmith" having long legs on the platform, because it seems like book fans are pretty unhappy with how things turned out, with many wishing the story had been granted the limited series treatment to give some of the character development a little more time to blossom. I can't help but agree. The gothic aesthetics of the film's setting are beautiful and all of the performances are deeply committed to the cause, but with clunky pacing and an especially rushed ending, it does feel like "The Tearsmith" was made as quickly as possible to capitalize on the book's popularity.
Considering how many eyeballs are on screens and putting the film on the Top 10 charts, perhaps this is exactly the outcome Netflix was looking for, regardless of critical reception.