This was a disappointing film that demonstrated a surprising lack of judgement from its director, Sergio Castellitto, an established and respected actor.
Told in flashbacks from the point of his daughter undergoing surgery after a crash, Timoteo (Castellitto) looks back at the passionate affair he conducted with Italia (Penelope Cruz) before his daughter's birth. Italia is a working-class woman living in a slum, a sharp contrast to the doctor, Timoteo. Their relationship begins when he drunkenly rapes her, but he returns and they form a tentative bond of aggressive sexuality and escapism.
The story could be interesting, but Castellitto handles the material poorly, and always in the extreme - the sentimental moments are too sentimental, such as when he remembers his daughter smiling, seeing her in slow motion with cheesy pop music; the drama is overplayed, out of place in a non-action film; the sex is often vulgar and aggressive, making it hard to sympathise with his romance; and the frequent use of too-loud (mostly) bad pop music is intrusive and out of place, distracting from the action and contributing nothing to the atmosphere. Vasco Rossi closer, 'Un Senso' is a great tune, but too sentimental and epic to end an intimate and painful story.
The performances are good, with Penelope Cruz giving a good, physical performance of a working-class woman (and looking pretty hideous too), but the characters weren't interesting and Timoteo in particular is unlikeable. The film is unlikeable and fairly boring, I'm afraid. The only other good comment I can make is that the jumps through time are handled well in a tricky narrative, but I had no interest in the story.
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