La prima cosa bella

Most people agree that the Golden Age of Italian movies started with Rosselini's "Rome-Open City" and ended about 15 years before Mastroianni's death. What's the cause of that, we can't be sure of.

This film about the drug depending teacher, who remembers his mother during the last decade of that era and how she involuntarily destroyed the lives of him and his sister. They really haven't begun yet. His mother another example of the common Italian film theme "Too beautiful for her own good".

But that theme would have been done better in the hands of the golden Italian directors and good acting really don't make that much difference here.

A beautiful and touching movie. The actors are really good - Pandolfi and Mastandrea deliver probably their best performance ever, while the common effort of Stefania Sandrelli and Micaela Rammazzotti depicts a wonderful, unforgettable female lead character, that somehow accomplish the not so easy task of being at the same time down-to-earth and larger-than-life. The story is full of grief and pain, and thanks to the overall great acting performance, those feelings seem so real that they will make you suffer (and cry). At the same time, anyway, the script is full of funny moments that will make you laugh, and laughs will wash away the tears – you know, just like in the real life. Strongly recommended to anybody.

This was a beautiful emotional movie. I really liked the actors in this movie because it seemed like they had a good chemistry on and off screen - for some reason I just had that feeling about it. The movie was emotional to me obviously because of the storyline and death, or the idea of death and having to watch your family member(s) slowly slip away from you, whether death or just estranged. However, I would absolutely recommend this film because it is the type of film that is relatable to anyone who doesn't have a perfect family nor a perfect life... in that case, EVERYONE. If a film HAS to be sad, I also like a film that can make me laugh, too, and this one did just that. It was a good balance to where the film isn't depressing, no fun in that. 10/10 would recommend it to a friend.

Told in flashbacks, this is the story of Anna, young mother of two, who in the Seventies gets thrown out by her jealous husband after winning a beauty competition for the most beautiful mother and must carve a life for herself and her children, even if she has no skills or instruction and only her attractiveness to sell.

In her own way, Anna is a good mother, but both Bruno and Valeria, her boy and girl will suffer some consequences of their unconventional upbringing.

I found the flashbacks very relatable since I am Italian and I grew up in that time frame. Therefore it felt like a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

The part in the present is less convincing and I did not like at all Mastrandrea's interpretation of the grown up Bruno. Sandrelli as the older Anna is good and her story line quite moving.

I rated the movie quite high for my own sentimental reasons, although the present day part of the history could have been done better and the plot is slightly overlong.

Having just seen this movie I'd say that Virzì is seriously working on becoming a major director. His technique is steadily evolving, his stories becoming more and more complex yet intimate, digging in his own youth and background while finding his own voice and style. Not quite Fellini yet but he seems to have a penchant for rolling in wallowing, like the great master, in his own experiences, remembrances and fantasies. It's a great compliment to say no matter what confusion one might find in the plot, one cannot really stop watching it. And like a good book, once finished watching, one feels like going back an looking again at some pages to better savor them. I don't know if this was Oscar material (too intimate, and a bit difficult to read for a general audience) but surely a movie to watch again after a few days, like a good book to leaf through now and again. This is what French movie directors have been trying to convey at their best. Kudos to Virzì.