mcongedi

Kasia Smutniak plays Camilla, a career-driven lawyer whose life centres around her work. Divorced, with a teenage daughter she hardly knows and in a casual relationship with a married man, her life is fine as it is.

But one rainy night, after an argument with her boss she crosses the street and is stuck by a scooter carrying two men. She is only slightly injured but one of the men dies.

Shaken by the event, she begins to re-assess her life and her relationship with others. Not a new theme, but writer-director Soldini has come up with a beautifully paced film that carefully plots her emotional journey which feels true.

One complication that haunts her is that the dead man is likely an illegal alien and nobody can identify him.

Kasia Smutniak is wholly believable in the lead role. Well-worth seeing.

Maybe it's because I'm a heterosexual male that I have struggled to warm to same-sex films, even though I have seen a few, but I was particularly impressed by this one.

Lena is the younger sister of Jonas who has a girlfriend Eva. Lena is quiet, introverted, inexperienced in love. Eva is emotionally insecure, after years of living with a mother who frequently changed partners. One day Eva kisses Lena and the two girls are shocked and surprised.

There are several outstanding qualities about the film. Firstly, its script is well-written, plotting the emotional journey of the two women, through initial surprise, uncertainty about their own feelings, whether what they did was right, uncertainty about the other's feelings.

Secondly, director Daniel Manns handles the film with the right pace. The story unfolds at a pace that allows the viewer to ponder what the women might feel without rushing into each stage. Brief musical interludes help with the film's rhythm.

Thirdly, all the characters are quite-well rounded. Even, the males, Jonas and Papa, are shown to have hidden emotional depths behind their sometimes (insensitive) humour. The women's characters are well-fleshed out.

And finally, one must mention Linn Reusse, who plays Lena. Her face is rich with conflicting emotions, the sign of a gifted actress.

At time of writing (2025), Manns has not directed another film, possibly the vagaries of low-budget filmmaking. What a pity, because he certainly is gifted.

It is great to see a well-made low-budget film. While many millions are spent making inane films, it's great to see that there are still people who can make a great film on a shoe-string budget.

Stories about Jews hiding during wartime are plentiful and this is another one in that category.

What distinguishes this film from most is that the outcome of the story is not obvious. The plot throws up little surprises every now and then and that keeps the viewer interested.

Piccioni is a fine director who has made some outstanding humanist films: "Fuori dal Mondo" (1999) and "Luce dei miei occhi" (2001). This film is not quite on the same quality level as the two mentioned but is in line with his interest in human nature.

The evocation of period (Italy at the outbreak of WWII) is pretty good and the characterisations are reasonable. The plot does not exaggerate the plight of Jews in Italy, which was nothing like their counterparts in Germany.

The film could have done with better cinematography however it is a worthy effort.