BEAUTY, INTERRUPTED.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

WHEN YOU LIVE in paradise but are subjected to occasional drudgery, life can occasionally get complicated. It's not so much that Grazia - a beautiful, life-embracing mother of three - is particularly unhappy or bored. Restless, perhaps. Given the choice of a day spent gutting fish or heading to the beach, Grazia chooses the waves. She also chooses to go topless. Uh-oh!

Set on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa and based on one of the island's local legends, Emanuele Crialese's festival favorite, ``Respiro,'' is a fable brought to cinematic life. Crialese, the film's writer and director, dispenses with dialogue when glances, gesture or atmosphere can get his points across. And in Valeria Golino - the dark-haired beauty of ``Rain Man'' and ``Hot Shots'' - Crialese has an icon worthy of both adoration and petty distrust.

Before we even encounter Golino's Grazia, we meet the island itself through its youth. A pack of shirtless boys, all on motor scooters, are hunting birds along the island's cliff-side ruins. Play turns rough when members of another boy's gang turn up and are promptly beaten, stripped and made to walk home naked. It's summer time and, when not beating the tar out of each other, the boys are walking the streets or bartering fish with a cart merchant for a chance at winning a raffle prize. This is supposed to be present day, but there's something deliciously anachronistic about Lampedusa and its people.

Pasquale (played by Francesco Casisa) and his tough-talking kid brother Filippo (Filippo Pucillo) may strut and preen, but they're mama's boys at heart. A few hours scootering around with their mom, Grazia (Golino), is its own kind of paradise. Until, that is, Grazia - who is temperamental and under medication - does something unpredictable. Her fisherman husband Pietro (Vincenzo Amato) tries to be patient, but gossip is building, and professional help is available in Milan. Of course, you'd need a straitjacket and a team of wranglers to pry Grazia off her island.

Plotwise, not a lot actually happens in ``Respiro.'' Grazia's daughter Marinella (Veronica D'Agostino, also a knockout) starts a romance with the new cop in town. The boys get in and out of trouble, and every so often the story works its way back to Grazia. Ultimately, an episode involving dogs forces Pietro and the townspeople to take desperate action. This prompts Pasquale to execute a fairly daring maneuver of his own. ``Respiro'' is told from Pasquale's perspective, but there's no use of voice-over or interpretation.

Golino is positively bewitching. Sun-drenched and sad-eyed, with a desperate fury that comes out of nowhere, she carries the movie. Casisa (the peacekeeper) and Pucillo (the fighter) essentially embody the two halves of Grazia's psyche.

The setting is seriously picturesque as well. ``Respiro'' was shot entirely on the island of Lampedusa, amid decaying buildings and along those remarkable cliffs and caves. Crialese, who tells his tale without urgency, has found an ideal setting for a seaside fable. And, in Golino, he's selected the perfect human mermaid to place at its center.

RESPIRO - Three stars

(PG-13: nudity, mild violence, language)

Starring: Valeria Golino, Francesco Casisa, Vincenzo Amato.

Director: Emanuele Crialese.

Running time: 1 hr. 35 min.

Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills; Laemmle Town Center 5, Encino; Laemmle Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Laemmle Monica, Santa Monica; Edwards South Coast Village 3, Costa Mesa.

In a nutshell: Fable brought to cinematic life with beautiful and slightly dangerous Valeria Golino.

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Valeria Golino plays a restless and unpredictable mother in ``Respiro,'' a fable set on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa.