Giovanni (Nanni Moretti) is a capable psychiatrist revered by his patients, who copes with his work because he knows a loving wife, son and daughter are waiting for him at the end of the working day. The sudden death of their son in a diving accident threatens to destroy the remaining family, as each retreats to grieve in their own way. An unexpected visitor allows them to make the journey, quite literally, to the other side of remorse.
You can tell this is not a Hollywood film because for the first 30 minutes, nothing happens. Giovanni works, comes home, cooks, runs, makes love to his wife, engages with his children while giving them their space. It is all very naturalistic and convincing, but there is no drama. Suddenly, a small item is snatched in the market, a car horn is blown - small, incidental fragments that are portents of the end of everyone's life in this family as they know it. Tomorrow, they will all be someone else.
And so Andrea dies and the grief kicks in. But they get better. The film engages you by creating multi-dimensional, charming yet flawed characters who we believe in and so care for when their world gets turned upside down. What happens to them you already know; how it happens is what keeps you watching. I enjoyed it without feeling the need to offer up tears; I felt the death as a sadness rather than a tragedy. This will not be everyone's cup of tea as a film, but the small moments that constitute our lives are faithfully represented, and the continuous montage of patients in Giovanni's office provides humour and pathos. This was my first Moretti film. There is enough here to bring me back.
You can tell this is not a Hollywood film because for the first 30 minutes, nothing happens. Giovanni works, comes home, cooks, runs, makes love to his wife, engages with his children while giving them their space. It is all very naturalistic and convincing, but there is no drama. Suddenly, a small item is snatched in the market, a car horn is blown - small, incidental fragments that are portents of the end of everyone's life in this family as they know it. Tomorrow, they will all be someone else.
And so Andrea dies and the grief kicks in. But they get better. The film engages you by creating multi-dimensional, charming yet flawed characters who we believe in and so care for when their world gets turned upside down. What happens to them you already know; how it happens is what keeps you watching. I enjoyed it without feeling the need to offer up tears; I felt the death as a sadness rather than a tragedy. This will not be everyone's cup of tea as a film, but the small moments that constitute our lives are faithfully represented, and the continuous montage of patients in Giovanni's office provides humour and pathos. This was my first Moretti film. There is enough here to bring me back.