Manual do Amor

I really enjoyed the first novel. Jasmine Trinca is absolutely sexy and smart there. Although, I would not find Tomasa a perfect match to her, he did played very well.

I am surprised that this movie has not received much of attention of critics and media.

I am big fan of Jasmine after this movie. She is the best! Next novels were not so interesting for me, although I did find amusing one scene about pregnancy and the way everybody watched mother delivering a baby in a hospital.

I would recommend watching Manuale Di Amore to everyone.

A flaw that I feared before watching this movie was stereotypes about love, like men playing tricks on women to conquer them or betrayals with best friends. As a matter of fact the movie is divided into various parts, each one describing a stage of love: falling in love, crisis, betrayal and abandon. The different mini-stories are tied with each other by characters who are somehow related and the end of the movie connects with the beginning as an ideal circle. Despite the same old stories about relationships and developments of love stories, this movie has anyway some good aspects. For example, each actor plays his own repertoire, displaying their qualities in what they do best and for what they're known for. The best sketches, in my opinion,are made by Goffredo, played by Carlo Verdone, and Marco, played by Sergio Rubini, who offer the sense of humor shown in their own movies.

the funniest scenes are in the second story when the couple having difficulties go to visit relatives who have a new baby. The admiration the baby receives is so exaggerated, the disgust . . . well no point in spoiling it. Most of the audience when I went were young Mexicans who were identifying with the characters in the first story but I didn't get hooked until the second one. The problems with parking guards who give fines, arrange for cars to be hauled off etc was probably funnier to the Italian audience but traveled well across the border. The "moral" of the last story was one I wish I'd learned sooner. All in all a very enjoyable evening's entertainment.

It's a very well-made light-hearted, romantic comedy consisting of several small stories sorted out by the different stages of relationships. The stories were told in such a fluid way that you don't feel disturbed by the director's chronically linear view on relationships, although the figures in different stories were connected in a way or another.

The outstanding performances from every actor in this film also makes the everyday love stories naturally telling. Although the audience can share lots of jokes about relationships in this film, I also like that sometimes the actors talked to the audience directly through the camera. This is a skillful technique to get the audience's empathy and involvement.

Brava & carina - this film is surely very entertaining.

Another one of those surprising little masterpieces that one sees accidentally; a movie that you know little about but once seen leaves you with warmth and satisfaction having been taken on a journey we all know.

Diane and I loved the film and left the theater with smiles on our faces and happy satisfaction animating our post-movie conversation. Maybe this pleasantness was a result of the writer's/director's choice of vignettes that ended the movie-it was the happiest, most satisfying of the four stories that composed the film.

The script was subtly formed so that the stories have a soft connection between them and the final story felt the most satisfying to me. These four faces of love are examined softly-no major drama here-just a quiet look at the most obvious faces that present to us of this feeling called love.

It is easy to see why this film won 11 Italian Oscars because the acting is acting at the point where the viewer is unaware that the people are acting the story. These theme variations are so well crafted that the viewer is left feeling that he/she is an emotional voyeur in that they are present during these stages of love.

Do make an effort to see the film-it is worth your time and effort to do so.