''Before It Had a Name'' is a 2005 film directed by

Giada Colagrande Giada Colagrande (born 16 October 1975) is an Italian film director and actress. Life and career In 2005 Colagrande directed her second feature, ''Before it Had a Name'', which she co-wrote and co-starred in with Willem Dafoe. The two had met on ...

and co-written by her and husband

Willem Dafoe Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for four Academy Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, ...

. The film premiered at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

and was retitled as '' The Black Widow'' when it was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

. 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 English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

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

Critical reception

Boyd Van Hoei wrote in ''Cine Europa'':

References

External links

* * *{{Allmovie title, 323298 2005 films Films shot in New York (state) American independent films MoviePass Films films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films