La tenerezza

One of his last films, the great Comencini 's "bueno natale ,bueno anno " dealt with old people rejected by their sons and daughters .

"La Tenerezza" inverses the roles : it's a grumpy old man who cannot stand his offspring anymore and severs links with them ; he meets a couple with children and one may think he's starting over and has found himself a new family ,but it's more complex than that ; in fact the father,Fabio ,is a neurotic,who cannot relate to his children ,like him;his behavior becomes more and more worrying : the way he treats the unfortunate street peddler comes aside as a shock .Too bad the character is not more developed for he 's far more interesting than that of Lorenzo's daughter :all that concerns the biological children is conventional ,melodramatic ; the first scene which echo the last one (the interpret job) is a cliché to end all the clichés.

But the real meat of the movie lies in Lorenzo's relationship with his new "family" ; he makes their tragedy his and his vision of Michela who would have survived the horror and tells him she's got her own family gives the movie a fantasy side. Besides , whereas one does not feel very much for his own children's distress, one cannot prevent oneself from admiring this crooked former lawyer ,some kind of modern Robin Hood.