Ricordati di me (2003)

Director:

Gabriele Muccino

Writers:

Gabriele Muccino (story)
Gabriele Muccino (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

14 February 2003 (Italy)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Drama

Tagline:

Some loves are never forgotten

Plot:

In the dysfunctional Italian middle-class family Ristuccia, the middle-aged executive Carlo has a stalled life without passion...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Box Office Hit | Family Relationships

Awards:

3 wins & 16 nominations

Cast

Fabrizio Bentivoglio	...	Carlo Ristuccia
Laura Morante	...	Giulia Ristuccia
Nicoletta Romanoff	...	Valentina Ristuccia
Monica Bellucci	...	Alessia
Silvio Muccino	...	Paolo Ristuccia
Gabriele Lavia	...	Alfredo
Enrico Silvestrin	...	Stefano Manni
Silvia Cohen	...	Elena
Alberto Gimignani	...	Riccardo
Amanda Sandrelli	...	Louise
Blas Roca-Rey	...	Matt
Pietro Taricone	...	Paolo Tucci
Giulia Michelini	...	Ilaria
Maria Chiara Augenti	...	Anna Pezzi
Andrea Roncato	...	Luigi

Also Known As:

Remember Me (International: English title)
Remember Me, My Love (USA)
Souviens-toi de moi (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some sexuality and teen drug use.

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

Italy | France | UK

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Australia:M | Argentina:13 | UK:15 | Italy:T | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Fandango

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Benchwarmers (2006)

Soundtrack:

Alì Baba

more likely to be forgotten

There's a strange sort of paradox at work in "Remember Me, My Love," an Italian film that seems to be operating under some bizarre inverse law of quantum physics. For while the movie itself moves at a breakneck pace, hurtling from one scene to another with near-reckless abandon, we can't help noticing that the faster it goes, the slower it seems. Perhaps, we simply wear ourselves out trying to keep up with it and it is this exhaustion factor that ultimately accounts for our restlessness and ennui.

"Remember Me, My Love" focuses on a family of four, whose members haven't been getting along too well of late. The parents, Carlo and Giulia, are both trying to find ways to cope with a bad case of middle aged crisis: he, by rekindling a romance with a beautiful former flame, and she, by pursuing the career in acting she abandoned when she became a wife and mother. Their children, Valentina and Paolo, are typical adolescents, all caught up in rebellion, identity crises and complicated affairs of the heart.

Although the film attempts to provide some insight into the complexities of modern family life, the characters come across as so whiny and self-indulgent that any sympathy they might have engendered on the part of the audience quickly turns to indifference and even irritation. The actors do their best (particularly Laura Morante as Giulia), but the characters they are called on to play never engage us much beyond the surface level. This lack of depth is further compounded by the whirlwind nature of the storytelling, which rarely allows the actors the time they need to settle down and work out the subtle nuances of their roles.

In all fairness, I must admit that, in the second hour, the film improves considerably, trafficking in some genuinely raw emotions that exemplify the devastating effects that a disintegrating marriage can have on all members of a family. Moreover, the film ends on a courageously inconclusive note, which goes a long way towards mitigating some of the theatricality and artificiality that permeate the rest of the movie.

Taken as a whole, "Remember Me, My Love" turns out to be much less than the sum of its parts, but the performances and a few good scenes do make it palatable.