Il cuore altrove

This ostensibly simple but ultimately haunting tale of a virginal teacher in search of a soul mate of proportions equal to the Latin and Greek verses he teaches captures the essence of selfless love, so very rare in male film protagonists since the invention of the Spaghetti Western (also Italian!).

Bookworm Neri Marcore is sent from Rome to Bologna by father Giancarlo Giannini (who's tailor to the Pope and well-versed extramaritally) to learn something about the opposite sex. And learn his son does when he meets the beautiful Vanessa Incontrada at a dance for the blind. But blindness turns out to be more than meets the eye when Vanessa's previous life catches up with them both.

Marcore's subtle performance is reminiscent of Chaplin at his most engaging and Olivier at his most nuanced, with Marcore's smile leaving an imprint long after the screen fades to black.

"Incantato (Il Cuore altrove)" is a beautiful looking film with an odd set-up and story line.

It's set in the Northern Italy of pre-World War II as that's about the last point one could have such naive characters, particularly the central man, a 35-year-old virgin classics teacher whose idea of love is what he's learned from the Latin poets.

He is a misfit everywhere - from his earthy family of Papal tailors, from beloved choruses because he sings too loudly, from his boarding housemates and their assignations, from the school administration about curriculum, and especially from women. He is under orders from his father, Giancarlo Giannini (in a virtual cameo whose comically vulgar language is not fully translated in the English subtitles), to get laid and get married, not with the same woman, so that he can follow dad's lifestyle in business, marriage and affairs.

He becomes infatuated with first one then another inappropriate woman, for opposite reasons. While he is sweet, and he wins over his students and all who he comes in contact with and his improbable courtships are charming to a point, but as we feel more and more sorry for him as we hope he won't but are sure he will end up in heart break, the movie just gets too unreservedly bittersweet.

The ending is simply a head-scratcher. The movie titles certainly don't help -- the original Italian title translates as "The Found Heart," while the U.S. title translates as "Enchanted" and neither is helpful to interpretation. (One member of the audience came to the movie not realizing it would be the same film she had already seen under the former title.)

The subtitles are not only annoyingly white on white, but put up both parts of a conversation at the same time.

in the 30s, a clumsy 35 years old professor of latin and humanities moves to Bologna, under the pressure of his parents (very important tailors in Rome, who work for the pope! they're disappointed by son's devotion to studies and unskillness with practical things) hoping he would eventually find a wife and settle family, giving them an heir to their fortune.

he is a very sensible and well-educated person, yet a kinda stranger in the real world. students are at first surprised by his manners, but then start to like him and his way of teaching, motivated from personal passion for classics.

his life changes when he meets a very exuberant pretty woman, who likes to enjoy life. What can make these two persons who are exactly the opposite one of the other close to each other? Actually she is blind and our guy the only one, with his sensibility, who can stand by her..but the thing is obstacled both from her parents (who thinks a school professor could not afford to give her the life standards she is used to) and his (who do not accept the fact she is blind). And she seems to be still in love wiht her previous boyfriend. will they finally come together?

a swiss doctor is trying hard new techniques to give her back the sight. Will she finally see again? in that case, what will change in their relationship, given the fact that was her blindness itself to make her notice him?

funny the first half, very touching the second part.

Pupi Avati has made a big job, and Marcorè is astonishly good in the role.

While this movie has some good moments, I found both the plot and the pace of the movie uneven to the point where I was not engaged in the movie for most of the time. The lead actor is talented, so talented and so convincing as the sweet, lonely, and socially awkward 35 year-old he plays - at points in the movie - you feel bored of him and tired of his introversion and immersion in ancient poetry. The leading lady, while beautiful, does not deliver a convincing performance. That role required an actor with a broader range and she falls flat. There are, however, scenes that made me laugh aloud and all of them featured the legendary Giancarlo Giannini.

"Il cuore altrove" is a great film.

Great because it shows everyday life from extraordinary points of view.

Great because it tells about how ordinary people can do wonderful things, and shy people can be brave, in the name of love.

Great because it proves that you can put together a talented comic-cabaret actor (Neri Marcorè) and a showgirl (Vanessa Incontrada) and here it is: an unusual, but wonderful couple of actors for a surely unusual, but wonderful love story.

Great because it is able to convince you that very talented and experimented actors like Giancarlo Giannini or Giulio Bosetti are even more talented than you thought.

Great because it provides a touching insight of a town that everybody should be allowed to visit once in a lifetime.

Great because it makes you laugh and cry at the same time and very few films are still able to do it nowadays.

Even if, out of Italy, you won't be able to understand its spirit fully, please try to see it. You won't regret.