Amantes e Adolescentes

Truly the greatest film that no one seems to know about (at least here in America) but certainly a profound one, as well as my personal favorite.

This is perhaps the most compassionate and artful debut role ever made for a young actress to shine. So, we should be thankful that the stars aligned for it to go to Catherine Spaak, perhaps the single most beautiful woman ever to grace the silver screen. (Here, of course, she's an adorable teenage girl, whose precocious mannerisms are sure to win audience's hearts.)

I wont spoil anything; give this a chance. Its a masterful expression of all the ways in which people hurt each other in the process of love, and are bitterly disappointed by life, all wrapped in a deceptively simple premise. All the best movies teach an important lesson of the craft, and I Dolci Inganni is the gold standard example of efficiency: how to say the most with the smallest runtime, pack the most subtext into a straightforward narrative and fully explore the depth of a most simplest theme.

Francesca, a seventeen-year-old Roman, is finally sure she has found love. Almost sure. She spends the day observing other lovers' behaviors and considering whether she is ready to jump. Her age notwithstanding, this movie is more about coming of age than about improper or illegal romantic relationships.

If Catherine Spaak, beautiful and innocent, acts with brio, the quality of the supporting cast makes the movie. From a fifty-year-old indebted socialite who is having too much fun for her daughter's taste to a jaunty gigolo who turns out to be eaten by unreciprocated love, the minor characters entertain, delight, and subtly teach valuable lessons to both Francesca and the audience.

This film's unpredictability is refreshing. Whether written or filmed, coming-of-age stories often fail to surprise or intrigue the audience. In I Dolci Inganni, most characters seem at first to be crazily entertaining walking clichés, but they later astonish the audience by revealing their depth and their inner struggles. If love is widely accepted as a common human need, it can be expressed in mysterious, unsettling, incomprehensible ways. The variety of its forms in the movie gives the spectator an opportunity to reflect on his or her own endeavors and dreams.

This movie will seem slow paced to Gen-Xers, but anybody interested in human nature should see it.