AIDS doctor Antonia's husband is killed by a car. She gets depressed until she learns he had been cheating on her with a man. Following her newly born curiosity for life, she goes to see ...
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Long-time friends: Davide, a successful novelist, lives with Lorenzo, who's everyone's favorite; Antonio and Angelique, married with two children; Neval, a voluble Turk, and her compliant ... See full summary »
Overburdened and stuck in a greying marriage, Giovanna takes to caring for the Jewish Holocaust survivor her husband brings home. As she begins to reflect on her life, she turns to the man who lives across from her ...
Director:
Ferzan Ozpetek
Stars:
Giovanna Mezzogiorno,
Massimo Girotti,
Raoul Bova
Tommaso is the youngest son of the Cantones, a large, traditional southern Italian family operating a pasta-making business since the 1960s. On a trip home from Rome, where he studies ... See full summary »
Francesco and Marta are husband and wife running a small design company in Rome. When Francesco's long forgotten Aunt Anita dies in Istanbul, he travels there to look after the sale of the ... See full summary »
Director:
Ferzan Ozpetek
Stars:
Alessandro Gassman,
Francesca d'Aloja,
Carlo Cecchi
Elena (Kasia Smutniak) and Antonio (Francesco Arca) seem not to be made for each other. They are too different in terms of character, life choices, worldview, and the way they relate to ... See full summary »
Director:
Ferzan Ozpetek
Stars:
Kasia Smutniak,
Francesco Arca,
Filippo Scicchitano
As the Ottoman Empire comes to an end, an old servant spins a tale to keep the women in the Sultan's harem distracted. The story is about Safiye, who first becomes the Sultan's favorite ... See full summary »
The only dream of Pietro is to become a famous actor. 28 year-old Pietro is so obsessed with becoming an actor that he does not mind trying every single way. He comes Rome and starts to ... See full summary »
Director:
Ferzan Ozpetek
Stars:
Elio Germano,
Margherita Buy,
Vittoria Puccini
In a Naples suspended between magic and superstition, madness and rationality, a mystery envelops the existence of Adriana, overwhelmed by a sudden love and a violent crime.
Director:
Ferzan Ozpetek
Stars:
Giovanna Mezzogiorno,
Alessandro Borghi,
Anna Bonaiuto
Deniz, an acclaimed author, is writing a book about his family and friends. He asks Orhan for critics. The day Orhan came to Istanbul from London, Deniz disappears. Orhan, Deniz's friend Neval and Deniz's lover Yusuf tries to find Deniz.
Director:
Ferzan Ozpetek
Stars:
Halit Ergenç,
Tuba Büyüküstün,
Mehmet Günsür
Carlo's life is thrown into a tailspin when his longtime girlfriend Giulia announces she's pregnant. As Carlo faces up to his anxieties about adulthood, his buddies Paolo, Adriano and ... See full summary »
AIDS doctor Antonia's husband is killed by a car. She gets depressed until she learns he had been cheating on her with a man. Following her newly born curiosity for life, she goes to see her husband's lover, Michele, and finds a huge apartment that he shares with gay and transgendered friends, including a Turkish immigrant and a prostitute. Antonia is reluctant to tell these people of her relationship to the dead man, but needs prompting to move on to a new phase of her life.Written by
Sujit R. Varma
Title Card:
[written on the back of the painting]
To Massimo, for our seven years together, for that part of you that I miss and I will never have, for every time you said I can't, but also for every time you said I'll be back... Always waiting, can I call my patience love? Your ignorant fairy
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This was a chance rental, recommended by the owner of my local rental shop and it was a wonderful surprise. We are introduced to the perfect marriage at the outset, Antonia, the wife (played winningly by Margherita Buy) and Massimo, the husband ( played by Andrea Renzi) It is fifteen years along into the marriage straight out of high school and it is sexy and fulfilling, with a wonderful house on a lake, a full time maid and no children by choice.
And just like that, Massimo is killed in a traffic accident and thus begins the story of the unfolding of the secret that he withheld from Antonia for seven years.
In her detective work, Antonia, an AIDS doctor, uncovers another life that Massimo has lived.
Enter handsome Michele ( played by Stefano Accorci), who lives an openly gay life, filled with friends, some straight, some gay, some transgendered. Michele is real, flaws and all and conveys the promiscuous life of a lusty gay male.
Antonia and Michele fight a burgeoning attraction for each other with Antonia repulsed at times by his sexuality with other men. She also becomes bonded with his friends (she has made Massimo her raison d'etre and abandoned other friends for him) and slowly begins to understand his grief process.
Nothing is drawn in black and white here. One senses that Antonia and Michele are right for each other. Massimo was never an intellectual whereas Michele and Antonia are. There are many layers to the story and some wonderful characterizations. The part of Antonia's mother is a particular delight as is the part of Serra, they both have their secrets too.
I gave it a 9 out of 10 for the Italy that it shows, a colourful, complex Italy and the characters that clamp around the heartstrings and don't release for a long time afterwards. The only flaw was in the measly subtitles but at times my Italian was good enough to pick up the nuances and the unsubtitled dialogue and background.
Bravo and Brava to all.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.
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This was a chance rental, recommended by the owner of my local rental shop and it was a wonderful surprise. We are introduced to the perfect marriage at the outset, Antonia, the wife (played winningly by Margherita Buy) and Massimo, the husband ( played by Andrea Renzi) It is fifteen years along into the marriage straight out of high school and it is sexy and fulfilling, with a wonderful house on a lake, a full time maid and no children by choice.
And just like that, Massimo is killed in a traffic accident and thus begins the story of the unfolding of the secret that he withheld from Antonia for seven years.
In her detective work, Antonia, an AIDS doctor, uncovers another life that Massimo has lived.
Enter handsome Michele ( played by Stefano Accorci), who lives an openly gay life, filled with friends, some straight, some gay, some transgendered. Michele is real, flaws and all and conveys the promiscuous life of a lusty gay male.
Antonia and Michele fight a burgeoning attraction for each other with Antonia repulsed at times by his sexuality with other men. She also becomes bonded with his friends (she has made Massimo her raison d'etre and abandoned other friends for him) and slowly begins to understand his grief process.
Nothing is drawn in black and white here. One senses that Antonia and Michele are right for each other. Massimo was never an intellectual whereas Michele and Antonia are. There are many layers to the story and some wonderful characterizations. The part of Antonia's mother is a particular delight as is the part of Serra, they both have their secrets too.
I gave it a 9 out of 10 for the Italy that it shows, a colourful, complex Italy and the characters that clamp around the heartstrings and don't release for a long time afterwards. The only flaw was in the measly subtitles but at times my Italian was good enough to pick up the nuances and the unsubtitled dialogue and background.
Bravo and Brava to all.