I watched and loved this movie the first time I saw it, but I watched it again not long ago that I turned 30 years old and the first thing it comes to my mind is: WHY, WHY are men and women SUPPOSED or EXPECTED to "grow up" when they turn 30??. WHY they are SUPPOSED or EXPECTED to raise kids when they turn 30?? Just WHY??.
The main story of the plot which revolves around Carlo (Stefano Accorsi) and Gulia (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), who have been together for 3 years, until she gets pregnant and Carlo's inner feelings and inner self are shaking because he is so unsure of himself and what he really wants. Does he want to settle down and live like a "grown up"?? Or does he want to feel free and escape from this seeming prison cell that he thinks his life will turn out to be?? His female partner of course has no doubts about what her desires are and what she wants for herself and for THEM, but her partner always seems to be just reacting, almost sitting by while she plans all their future together. Although I think that this portrayal of Carlo is totally coherent with his childish and weak demeanor, this also illustrates how unbalanced the relationship between Carlo and Gulia really was.
Anyway, when Carlo meets Francesca (Martina Stella), a stunning, gorgeous high school girl who clearly is attracted to him, his existential and inner doubts starts to come to surface to the point that he is unable to cope with them, until he just let himself go and succumbs to the almost irresistible temptation, taking to heart Oscar Wilde's well-known saying "The best way to get rid of a temptation is to fall in it", remember??. Of course he fails to address the whole issue that passion has gone with Gulia before cheating on her, but as a man I can understand why. But the whole sequence of the cheating, starting from the teenager party, going through the big fight, and then ending up in his love making with Francesca, clearly shows that Carlo was absolutely disturbed and had no clue about what he really wanted. I mean, he first cheated with "just a kiss", restrained himself from sleeping with Francesca so that he could continue to play out his charade with Giulia, but fails to do so because the charade was just so poorly elaborate and after she discovers the whole charade and forces him to recognize the cheating and kicks him out of anger, he finds nothing better to do than bounce back and goes to sleep with his object of desire. But then after their love making he suddenly realizes that he is out of place at her side and decides to bounce back (again) and try to fix things up with Giulia, not realizing that he was totally using Francesca almost as sex toy to give him pleasure, failing to treat her as a human being regardless that she was a teenager. I'm not trying to redeem Francesca, she was clearly trying to bust Carlo's relationship, but Carlo always told her only half truths and in her innocence and naiveté she seemed to truly believe they could be together. She was being authentic to her teenager nature, but Carlo should have known better before sleeping with her.
And then, after he screwed it all up, he tries by all means to get rid of Francesca, she was no longer useful to him, and decides to make an all-out attempt to win back Giulia, finally dumping Francesca in a painful scene. Painful because Francesca was not mature and experienced enough to know the sour realities of life, like that you can't expect to build a relationship just out of physical attraction, and she was trying desperately to win Carlo for her in any way. I think that the gesture of the gift was well meaning on her part, but her last emotional outburst was a little bit too much. I wonder if Italian teenagers do actually behave like that. I believe that she should have kept some restraint and dignity after Carlo dumped her. She acted with no pride, and it's such a pity to see a beautiful teenager acting like that, she could have had any man she wanted, anyone better than Carlo, but she was so obsessed with him that it seems she could not see this. All the finale, Carlo's getting rid of Francesca, and the subsequent reconciliation with Giulia, seems to me just a little too much convenient. I believe he never really faced the fundamental existential issue that was right in front of him, and instead chose to yield and take the easy way out, just like when he cheated on Giulia. He was far too weak to try to take the hard way and truly learn a stern lesson, which could have been to go on with his life by himself and discover what he really wanted, maybe trying a relationship with Francesca even if it was only to realize that it would not work, or maybe just staying single and arrange a judicial agreement to see his future daughter. But it seemed that somewhat he was trying to convince himself that what he was doing what was right, not because he truly believed in it, but because it was socially EXPECTED. In that way he was only deceiving himself. The reconciliation scene seems to imply that. That's the way I would interpret it.
All in all, I enjoyed this movie and its characters performances, specially Francesca and Giulia, they were realistic to me, but the men were just a little too weak for their male nature. I highly recommend this movie.
The main story of the plot which revolves around Carlo (Stefano Accorsi) and Gulia (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), who have been together for 3 years, until she gets pregnant and Carlo's inner feelings and inner self are shaking because he is so unsure of himself and what he really wants. Does he want to settle down and live like a "grown up"?? Or does he want to feel free and escape from this seeming prison cell that he thinks his life will turn out to be?? His female partner of course has no doubts about what her desires are and what she wants for herself and for THEM, but her partner always seems to be just reacting, almost sitting by while she plans all their future together. Although I think that this portrayal of Carlo is totally coherent with his childish and weak demeanor, this also illustrates how unbalanced the relationship between Carlo and Gulia really was.
Anyway, when Carlo meets Francesca (Martina Stella), a stunning, gorgeous high school girl who clearly is attracted to him, his existential and inner doubts starts to come to surface to the point that he is unable to cope with them, until he just let himself go and succumbs to the almost irresistible temptation, taking to heart Oscar Wilde's well-known saying "The best way to get rid of a temptation is to fall in it", remember??. Of course he fails to address the whole issue that passion has gone with Gulia before cheating on her, but as a man I can understand why. But the whole sequence of the cheating, starting from the teenager party, going through the big fight, and then ending up in his love making with Francesca, clearly shows that Carlo was absolutely disturbed and had no clue about what he really wanted. I mean, he first cheated with "just a kiss", restrained himself from sleeping with Francesca so that he could continue to play out his charade with Giulia, but fails to do so because the charade was just so poorly elaborate and after she discovers the whole charade and forces him to recognize the cheating and kicks him out of anger, he finds nothing better to do than bounce back and goes to sleep with his object of desire. But then after their love making he suddenly realizes that he is out of place at her side and decides to bounce back (again) and try to fix things up with Giulia, not realizing that he was totally using Francesca almost as sex toy to give him pleasure, failing to treat her as a human being regardless that she was a teenager. I'm not trying to redeem Francesca, she was clearly trying to bust Carlo's relationship, but Carlo always told her only half truths and in her innocence and naiveté she seemed to truly believe they could be together. She was being authentic to her teenager nature, but Carlo should have known better before sleeping with her.
And then, after he screwed it all up, he tries by all means to get rid of Francesca, she was no longer useful to him, and decides to make an all-out attempt to win back Giulia, finally dumping Francesca in a painful scene. Painful because Francesca was not mature and experienced enough to know the sour realities of life, like that you can't expect to build a relationship just out of physical attraction, and she was trying desperately to win Carlo for her in any way. I think that the gesture of the gift was well meaning on her part, but her last emotional outburst was a little bit too much. I wonder if Italian teenagers do actually behave like that. I believe that she should have kept some restraint and dignity after Carlo dumped her. She acted with no pride, and it's such a pity to see a beautiful teenager acting like that, she could have had any man she wanted, anyone better than Carlo, but she was so obsessed with him that it seems she could not see this. All the finale, Carlo's getting rid of Francesca, and the subsequent reconciliation with Giulia, seems to me just a little too much convenient. I believe he never really faced the fundamental existential issue that was right in front of him, and instead chose to yield and take the easy way out, just like when he cheated on Giulia. He was far too weak to try to take the hard way and truly learn a stern lesson, which could have been to go on with his life by himself and discover what he really wanted, maybe trying a relationship with Francesca even if it was only to realize that it would not work, or maybe just staying single and arrange a judicial agreement to see his future daughter. But it seemed that somewhat he was trying to convince himself that what he was doing what was right, not because he truly believed in it, but because it was socially EXPECTED. In that way he was only deceiving himself. The reconciliation scene seems to imply that. That's the way I would interpret it.
All in all, I enjoyed this movie and its characters performances, specially Francesca and Giulia, they were realistic to me, but the men were just a little too weak for their male nature. I highly recommend this movie.