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Indie film distributor Well Go USA Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Italian director Gabriele Mainetti’s Rome-set martial arts movie “The Forbidden City” following its international launch at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Set in the cosmopolitan melting pot of Rome’s Piazza Vittorio neighborhood, “The Forbidden City” sees two very different souls intersect. One is a mysterious young woman with some mean kung fu skills who has just arrived from China in the Italian capital in search of her missing sister; the other is the son of an indebted local restaurant owner who has disappeared with his lover. These two lost souls are catapulted into an action-packed descent into the criminal underworld of the Italian capital dominated by the Chinese mafia.

Mainetti, who is known internationally for previous genre-bending titles “They Call Me Jeeg” and “Freaks vs. the Reich,” in his latest work “shows impressive command of...

Oh, the Italians… They take the genre or genres that are not native to their cinema, put a twist on it and – it somehow works! More than that, it sports its own style. They did it with spaghetti westerns and giallo pulp, so why they would not try the same thing with the Kung Fu flicks. Spaghetti or noodles, it is just a matter of taste, right? And, truth to be told, many “outsiders” tried their luck with Asian-style martial arts-powered action, from Gareth Evans to Timo Tjahjanto, and their efforts were far from embarrassing.

Enter the Italian actor and filmmaker Gabriele Mainetti who already flirted with the Asian-sourced sub-genres with his 2015 “They Call Me Jeeg Robot” and his vision of the “old-school-new-school” countdown between the mob dinosaurs and the triads newcomers on the streets of Rome. “Forbidden City” was released to selected theatres without a flashy festival premiere, but...

Movies set in unexpected locations typically make a point of labeling where they take place with prominent on-screen chyrons. “The Forbidden City” slyly withholds that information, treating the answer almost like a twist. The surprise stems from a prologue set in rural China, where a father teaches his two daughters kung fu before leaping forward to its first bone-shattering set-piece.

A decade or so later, Mei (Yaxi Liu) reappears in the basement of the Forbidden City, a multi-story Chinese restaurant-cum-brothel, fighting her way through a crowd of thugs and sex traffickers. When one assailant pulls a knife, she smashes a compact disc and fights back with the jagged shards of plastic. Mei kicks her way up the stairs, intending to save her older sister Yun, who’s nowhere to be found. Cornered in the kitchen, she improvises weapons from iron pans and a gnarly cheese grater, dousing the next round of henchmen in boiling grease.

The Taormina Film Festival wrapped its 71st edition with Axel Monsú’s “For Your Sake” taking home the top prize. The Argentinian film tells the story of a young girl played by Sabrina Melgarejo, whose life is restricted by poverty and an oppressive religion until she decides to make an attempt at taking her destiny into her own hands. The prize for best director went to Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza for their Iraqi set war movie “Warfare,” which plays out in real time and is based on real events experienced by Mendoza who wrote the script with Garland.

The jury – led by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and including Academy Award winning costume designer Sandy Powell, former Variety vice-president of content Steven Gaydos and Italian actresses Ilenia Pastorelli and Alessandra Mastronardi – gave the acting honors to Ebada Hassan, who starred in Nadia Fall’s “Brides” and Geoffrey Rush for the thriller “The Rule of Jenny Pen,...

Argentinian director, screenwriter and producer Pablo Trapero is to chair the jury of the Progressive Cinema Competition, the competition section of the Rome Film Festival.

Trapero will be joined on the Rome jury by editor Francesca Calvelli, French actress Laetitia Casta, UK producer Gail Egan, and writer and screenwriter Dennis Lehane.

Trapero won the Silver Lion for dest director at the 2015 Venice Film Festival for The Clan. His other directing credits include crime series ZeroZeroZero.

Meanwhile, a jury chaired by Italian director and screenwriter Francesca Comencini, will award Rome’s best first feature prize to a fiction feature film in...

Over the past few years Italian cinema has been making strides in the global arena and 2024 looks likely to bolster its international standing. New works by top auteurs Paolo Sorrentino and Luca Guadagnino will be launching from the festival circuit just as a fresh crop of directors comes to fore, starting with Margherita Vicario, whose first film “Gloria!” scored a Berlin competition slot.

Below is a compendium of new Italian movies set to hit this year’s fest circuit.

“Another End” – Gael García Bernal and Renate Reinsve (“The Worse Person in the World”) star as lovers caught in an unusual bind in Italian director Piero Messina’s sci-fi film “Another End” which is competing in Berlin. This second feature by Messina – whose first feature, “The Wait,” launched with a splash in the 2015 Venice competition – is set in a near-future when a new technology exists that can put the consciousness of...

Penélope Cruz is taking on an Elena Ferrante adaptation.

IndieWire can confirm the “Ferrari” actress is reuniting with “Elegy” director Isabel Coixet for the adaptation of Ferrante’s 2002 “The Days of Abandonment,” which followed Olga, an Italian woman, who loses her grasp on reality after her husband of 15 years abruptly leaves her for another woman.

The big screen adaptation will instead be set in America, as Variety reported, with the script penned by Laurence Coriat (“Summer in Genoa”). “The Days of Abandonment” will be produced by Lotus, a unit of Raffaella and Andrea Leone’s Leone Film Group, and Cruz’s production banner Moonlyon. Cruz’s brother Edu Cruz will also produce along with Marco Perego through their Nimoa Entertainment company.

Director Coixet has recently helmed “Un Amor,” “My Life Without Me,” and “The Secret Life of Words.”

Author Ferrante’s novels have been adapted for the big and small screens,...

Producer Lorenzo Mieli, who has brought to the screen top Italian TV series such as “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend,” is launching two new crime shows with innovative elements: “The King” and “Bang Bang Baby.”

Both stem from his bent to push boundaries of genre storytelling that is “borne from authenticity,” he says.

“The King,” which is Italy’s first prison drama, recently bowed positively in Italy on Comcast-owned Sky’s pay-tv service and also premiered internationally at the Series Mania fest.

The dark show stars Luca Zingaretti, best known as the titular character in Italy’s widely exported “Inspector Montalbano” series. He plays Bruno Testori the sometimes psychopathic director of a maximum security penitentiary located on an unspecified Italian border territory that is not subject to Italian law. There Testori, who is a mixture of good and evil, can apply his totally personal idea of justice.

Following “Gomorrah” and “The Young Pope,” Sky continues to bring to the screen fresh edgy TV series with “The King,” which is Italy’s first prison drama but transcends genre tropes to recount the country’s complex way of contending with evil forces, including terrorism.

The dark skein, currently playing in Italy on Comcast-owned Sky’s pay-tv service –– and premiering internationally in competition at Series Mania –– is the brainchild of Italian A-list actor Luca Zingaretti, best known as the titular character in Italy’s widely exported “Inspector Montalbano” series.

After playing a a simpatico Mafia-fighting Sicilian sleuth in “Montalbano,” Zingaretti “wanted to do a show set in an Italian maximum security penitentiary and play a character who was the head of this jail,” says “The King” producer Lorenzo Mieli.

Zingaretti’s character, named Bruno Testori, is the “supreme ruler” of the San Michele penitentiary, which is packed with hard...

Even from the most casual of glances, this year’s Series Mania boasts a plethora of riches, including, just for starters, the latest series from “The Wire’s” David Simon, and “Vikings’” Michael Hirst and “The Responder,” starring Martin Freeman, which is already being talked up as the European series of the year.

The selection below may well not represent the best 10 titles at this year’s Series Mania. But the following drama series are certainly sparking large buzz or at least curiosity ahead of this year’s March 18-25 edition of one of Europe’s foremost TV Festivals.

We Own This City

(International Competition, U.S.)

“15 Years Later, 2017 Needs Its Own ‘The Wire,” Variety announced five years ago. Now it may finally have got one, and through the simplest means possible. “The Wire” creator David Simon and writer George Pelacanos return with a six-hour account of the rise and...

Fremantle and pay-tv operator Sky are unveiling Sky original series “The King,” an innovative prison drama toplining Luca Zingaretti, who is best known as the titular character in Italy’s widely exported “Inspector Montalbano” series.

While in “Montalbano” Zingaretti played a simpatico Mafia-fighting Sicilian sleuth, in “The King” he undergoes a monumental character change, becoming the psychopathic Buno Testori (watch trailer above) director of the lawless San Michele penitentiary, which is located on an unspecified Italian border territory that is not subject to Italian law where he can apply his totally personal idea of justice.

Testori is ruthless with those who deserve it and unexpectedly compassionate with others, “always following the principles of his own distorted and obscure morals,” according to the provided synopsis. As the trailer puts it: “Every kingdom has its own rules.”

The dark show is penned by Stefano Bises, whose credits include “Gomorrah,” “ZeroZeroZero” and “The New Pope,...

In 1968, idealistic Italian engineer Giorgio Rosa founded an independent micro nation on a tiny island he built on a platform supported by steel pylons off the coast of Rimini, Italy, outside Italian territorial waters. He named the platform — which had its own bar/restaurant, post office and radio station — the Republic of Rose Island.

This anarchic act is the subject of “Rose Island,” a dramedy rooted in real history marking the first Netflix International Original film out of Italy. The streaming giant worked closely with director Sydney Sibilia and production company Grøenlandia (“The First King”) to shepherd the picture, conceived from the outset for an international audience. The film stems from Netflix’s stepped-up drive under David Kosse, vice president of international film and Teresa Moneo, director of international film, to produce and acquire significant non-English language titles with worldwide appeal.

Partly shot in Malta, “Rose Island” boasts a top-tier...

To mark the release of Inspector Montalbano Collection 10 on 23rd November, we’ve been given 2 copies to give away on DVD.

Our Favourite Sicilian detective Inspector Montalbano returns for another enthralling series of intrigue, drama and fine food, set against a stunning sun-drenched backdrop.

With all of the thrills of Scandi-noir, but with delicious delicacies, Sicilian culture and the warmth of the Mediterranean sun, this ratings hit stars Luca Zingaretti as the eponymous, much-loved icon of contemporary detective drama. Salvo Montalbano is a sharp, unconventional detective who must fight to succeed within Italy’s precarious justice system, alongside his trusted colleagues.

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Open to UK residents only The competition will close 26th November 2020 at 23.59 GMT The winner will be picked at random from entries received No cash alternative is available Please note prizes may be...

"To change the world, you've got to risk a little." Netflix has unveiled an official trailer for an indie Italian film titled Rose Island, from filmmaker Sydney Sibilia (of the I Can Quit Whenever I Want series). This reminds me of the UK film Pirate Radio about the ship broadcasting in international waters, or about the party-on-a-homemade-raft experiment examined in the doc The Raft. An idealistic engineer builds his own island off the Italian coast and declares it a nation, drawing the world's attention. Values are tested when the Italian government declares him an enemy, but to change the world risks must be taken. This has a more light-hearted, comedic tone to it in addition to its let's-take-on-the-Italian-government boldness. Starring Elio Germano as Giorgio Rosa, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Tom Wlaschiha, Luca Zingaretti, François Cluzet, Matilda De Angelis, & Ascanio Balbo. This looks like a good story and a fun film! Take a look.

Netflix has debuted a new trailer for its Italian comedy drama based on a true story ‘Rose Island’.

Giorgio, a gifted yet misunderstood engineer has hit rock bottom – he’s been fired from his job, his parents won’t speak to him, and the love of his life has ditched him after he accidentally gets them both arrested (long story…). Sick of the stuffy rules of Italian society of the late 60s, Giorgio hatches an impossible plan; he will build his own island in the middle of the sea. Joined by a team of revolutionaries and outcasts, the Republic of Rose Island is founded, independence is declared and Giorgio is appointed President. However, team values and resilience are tested, as the Italian Prime Minister decides Giorgio’s idealistic island is Italy’s Enemy Number One.

Directed by Sydney Sibilia, the film stars Giorgio Rosa: Elio Germano,,Gabriella: Matilda De Angelis,...

European pay-tv operator Sky has greenlit production of Italian prison drama “The King,” toplining Luca Zingaretti, best known as the titular character in the popular “Inspector Montalbano” series.

In “The King” Zingaretti will play Buno Testori, chief of the San Michele penitentiary, where “he applies his own personal idea of justice,” according to a Sky synopsis. The innovative show is being produced for Sky by Lorenzo Mieli’s shingle The Apartment in collaboration with Wildside, producer of “The New Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend.” Both are Fremantle-owned companies.

Shooting on the eight-episode series, directed by Giuseppe Gagliardi (“1992”), is expected to start by early next year in Rome, Turin, and Trieste locations. Fremantle is handling international sales.

The screenplay of “The King” is penned by Stefano Bises (“Gomorrah”), Peppe Fiore (“The Young Pope”), Bernardo Pellegrini (“Non Uccidere), and Davide Serino (“The Comedians”).

According to the Sky synopsis, the San Michele...

Sky Italia has ordered prison drama Il Re (The King), which will star Italian actor Luca Zingaretti, well known locally for the Inspector Montalbano series.

The Italian-language series will be set in the prison of San Michele where Bruno Testori (Zingaretti), the director, applies his own personal idea of justice. While outside the prison his life is far from ordered, inside he is the absolute ruler. But when his kingdom unexpectedly comes under threat, Testori finds himself fighting the most difficult war of his life.

Producing will be Lorenzo Mieli and his new banner The Apartment, together with local production power and sister company Wildside, both of which are part of the Fremantle group. Wildside, of which Mieli was a co-founder, has produced shows including We Are Who We Are, The New Pope and My Brilliant Friend.

The eight-episode series will be directed by Giuseppe Gagliardi (1992) from a screenplay by Stefano Bises,...

Italy late on Monday became the first European country to go into lockdown mode to counter the spread of a coronavirus outbreak that has caused cinemas to be shuttered and production to stop. But the country’s film and TV industry has not hit the pause button.

Right after Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte in a prime time nightly news conference announced nationwide travel limits affecting the nation’s roughly 60 million citizens – in an attempt to stem the virus that in Italy has killed more than 460 people, the highest death count outside China – more than 9 million Italians tuned in to watch the first episode of the new season of “Inspector Montalbano” on pubcaster Rai.

The new “Montalbano,” starring (and also co-directed by) Luca Zingaretti as the titular Sicilian sleuth who is a Mafia fighting foodie, scored a whopping 39% share on Rai 1, becoming a collective anti-coronavirus rite of sorts even...

Exclusive: Netflix has boarded The Incredible Story Of Rose Island (L’Incredibile Storia Dell’Isola Delle Rose), a comedy feature from Sydney Sibilia, director of the successful Italian franchise Smetto Quando Voglia. Production began in September on the movie that’s based on the true story of engineer Giorgio Rosa and the independent micronation he founded in 1968 off the Rimini coast outside Italian territorial waters.

This is part of Netflix’s overseas drive under VP of International Film David Kosse who joined in March to focus on making and acquiring significant non-English language titles with worldwide appeal. Shooting will take place in Rome, Malta, Rimini and Bologna.

The Incredible Story Of Rose Island is co-written by Sibilia and Francesca Manieri. A Netflix original film produced by Groenlandia, it stars Elio Germano as Giorgio Rosa with Matilda De Angelis, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Luca Zingaretti, François Cluzet (Intouchables), Thomas Wlaschiha (Game Of Thrones), Leonardo Lidi,...

The lead actress Oscar winner for Cabaret will be honoured with the 2015 Jack Valenti – Los Angeles Italia Legend Award at the L.A. Italia Film Festival.

Liza Minnelli will receive the award at the closing night ceremony. Prior recipients include Al Pacino and Angelica Huston.

The honour, named after the flamboyant former MPAA president Jack Valenti, is presented to an outstanding Italian-American who has made substantial contributions to the global film industry.

“We are extremely honoured and delighted to be presenting this year’s Jack Valenti Legend Award to the talented and lovely Liza Minnelli,” said festival founder and producer Pascal Vicedomini and festival honourary chair Mark Canton.

“As in prior years our board aims to recognise highly talented Italian-Americans who have made an impact on the industry and without a doubt, Liza fits the bill.”

The L.A. Italia film festival runs from February 15-21 in Hollywood and will feature a record 50 films including five world and 14 American...

Italian Film of the Year goes to Marco Martone’s Leopardi.

The Imitation Game picked up Best Picture and a Best Director award for Morten Tyldum at the 19th Capri Hollywood International Film Festival, which wrapped in Italy on Friday (Jan 2).

Other awards went to TimothySpall for Mr. Turner while Jennifer Aniston and Amy Adams tied as Best Female Actors for Cake and Big Eyes respectively.

Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood) and Gugu Mbarta Raw (Beyond the Lights) were selected as Rising Stars and Ida was named Best Foreign Film.

The Italian American Icon Award was presented to director David O. Russell and the Lifetime Achievement Award went to English actress Brenda Blethyn.

The event, which incorporates a slightly bewildering array of prizes, was presented under the auspices of the Capri in the World Institute which is chaired by Italian director Lina Wertmuller and Indian director Shekhar Kapur. The festival is produced by Pascal Vicedomini.

“The board of...

“The Imitation Game” has been named the best film at the 2014 Capri International Film Festival, which concluded on Friday on the island of Capri, Italy. The film’s director, Morten Tyldum, was named best director.

Timothy Spall was honored as best actor for his performance in “Mr. Turner,” just as he was at the Cannes Film Festival last May, while the best actress award was shared by Amy Adams for “Big Eyes” and Jennifer Aniston for “Cake.”

Ellar Coltrane and Gugu Mbatha-Raw were named Rising Stars for their performances in “Boyhood” and “Beyond the Lights,” respectively.

Also read: Best & Worst...

The 19th annual Capri, Hollywood International Film Festival wrapped today off the Italian coast with an awards ceremony that saw the Weinstein Company’s The Imitation Game win Best Picture and its Morten Tyldum scooping Best Director. Other honors were scattered among numerous awards-season contenders including Best Actor Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner) and a tie between Jennifer Aniston (Cake) and Amy Adams (Big Eyes) for Best Actress. Birdman and Boyhood also picked up trophies — for the Visionary Award and Family Awards, respectfully — and Disney’s Big Hero 6 drew the Animated Movie of the Year prize.

“This year, Capri, Hollywood was able to present the best of this cinematic season, many of which are contenders for year-end honors including the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs and the Academy Awards. thanks to a number of the world’s ‘majors’ that trust our work and are willing to premiere their movies at our festival,...

Rai Com boosts slate with Partly Cloudy, Probably Sunny and Latin Lover.

Rai Com is to handle sales on Partly Cloudy, Probably Sunny (Tempo instabile con probabili schiarite), the new film by Marco Pontecorvo.

The comedy stars John Turturro alongside Italian actors Luca Zingaretti, Lillo and Carolina Crescentini. Pontecorvo was recently director of photography on Fading Gigalo, which Turturro wrote, directed and starred.

The film is produced by Panorama Films in collaboration with Rai Cinema and will be distributed in Italy by Good Films.

Pontecorvo, who also wrote the film, described it as “a bittersweet comedy, a sarcastic metaphor for the vices and defects as well as the virtues of Italy today.”

Rai Com has also added Cristina Comencini’s Latin Lover to its slate. Comencini was nominated for a Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar in 2005 with Don’t Tell.

Latin Lover, currently in post-production, stars Italo-French actress Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (“Saint Laurent”), Spanish stars Candela Pena (“All About My Mother...

The 71st Venice Film Festival announced its lineup this morning, highlighted by films from American directors, including David Gordon Green, Barry Levinson, Peter Bogdanovich, Lisa Cholodenko, Andrew Niccol, and James Franco. As had been previously announced, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, starring Michael Keaton and many others, will be the opening film when the festival begins on Aug. 27.

Click below for the entire list of 55 films playing in Venice.

Competition

The Cut, directed by Fatih Akin

Starring Tahar Rahim, Akin Gazi, Simon Abkarian, George Georgiou

A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence, directed by Roy Andersson

Starring Holger Andersson,...

Schindler's List was unprecedented in showing a fresh generation of film-goers how the Second World War brought forth both a capacity for evil, but also for conscience, comradeship and heroism.

Since Thomas Keneally's book and later Steven Spielberg's film caused such ripples across the world, historians have always been at pains to let us know that, however dashing the deeds of Oskar Schindler in Krakow during the time of the city's occupation by the Nazis, he was by no means alone in putting his life on the line for the sake of others.

Luca Zingaretti (from Montalbano) plays Georgio Perlasca, in this true-life story of wartime courage

Now, on DVD for the first time, is the story of another hero - this time Italian, whose story, like Schindler's, took the best part of 40 years to come to light.

Georgio Perlasca was a businessman who, like Schindler, found himself...

Following the recent release of Perlasca: The Courage Of A Just Man (available to buy now at Amazon.co.uk), we were challenged with chronicling the 10 greatest films on the Holocaust.

One of history’s darkest moments, the Holocaust has been the backdrop of many fictional and non-fictional films. Perlasca charts the journey of one of the lesser known heroes of the time, Giorgio Perlasca, who saved more than 5000 jews. Starring Luca Zingaretti, from the BBC hit series Montalbano, and featuring a Ennio Moricone score, the feature is available to buy on DVD for the very first time. Perlasca audaciously rescues two boys from being herded onto a freight train in defiance of a German lieutenant colonel on the scene, who happened to be none other than Adolf Eichmann.

Many films that focus on the holocaust can scream of distaste if not made well, but there have also been...

★★☆☆☆ For those seeking a brighter, more light-hearted alternative to the pervading gloom and near-suicidal despair of recent Nordic crime drama, the sun, sea and stunning Sicilian scenery of Inspector Montalbano must seem like a welcome change. Adapted from the best-selling novels by Andrea Camilleri, Inspector Montalbano features Luca Zingaretti as the macho sleuth, for whom solving crime is merely a distraction from indulging in the more simple pleasures of life.

Read more »...

Are you guys ready for the oldest film festival in the world? Yeah, sure you are! Who’s crazy enough to miss all that glamour, great movies, and well-known faces? Guess nobody!

This year’s Venice Film Festival runs from September 1- 11th and some great titles will compete for Leone d’Oro, or if you prefer Golden Lion, indeed!

Just in case you don’t trust us, check out a list of all the films playing in competition:

In Competition

Black Swan, Opening Night Film (dir. Darren Aronofsky – U.S.) Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder

La Pecora Nera, (dir. Ascanio Celestini – Italy) Ascanio Celestini, Giorgio Tirabassi, Maya Sansa

Somewhere, (dir. Sofia Coppola – U.S.) Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Benicio Del Toro, Michelle Monaghan, Laura Chiatti, Simona Ventura

Happy Few, (dir. Antony Cordier – France) Marina Fois, Elodie Bouchez, Roschdy Zem, Nicolas Duvauchelle

The Solitude of Prime Numbers,...

Earlier this week, the fifty films showing at the Toronto International Film Festival were announced. Today, we have a list of the films showing in-competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Highlights of the Festival include Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere, Richard J. Lewis’ Barney’s Version, Julian Schnabel’s Miral, and Tom Tykwer’s Drei. What’s also cool about this list is that we see the runtimes of each of the films. However, it’s not unusual for a film to undergo changes between a festival and its general release.

Hit the jump for a list of all the films playing in-competition and click here for the films playing out-of-competition. This year’s Venice Film Festival runs from September 1 – 11th.

Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan

USA, 103′

Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder

Ascanio Celestini – La Pecora Nera

Italia, 93′

Ascanio Celestini,...

Daniele Luchetti’s project La Nostra Vita (Our Life) is the only Italian film in competition for the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival 2010.

This will be Luchetti’s fourth time at Cannes, and looks like he’s got himself some good story since we already had a chance to hear from him that “above and beyond his difficulties, it’s the story of a whole country.” Check the rest of report…

So, this is story about working-class man in Rome, who must come to terms with a death caused by a traumatic event.

Luchetti said that “The film mixes various horizons, such as life and profound pain. It is simultaneously furious and lively. I worked less on lightening up the tone this time, in order to let the truth emerge”.

He also added that he had “a great desire look to at my country through a character that...

VENICE -- Sprinkled with surrealist touches and involving some pleasant music, writer and director Roberto Faenza's "The Days of Abandonment" offers reassurance to abandoned wives that while there may be some pain, they will come to appreciate life better for the experience of being unceremoniously dumped.

The attractively made film, screened In Competition at the Venice International Film Festival, is based on a novel with the same title by Elena Ferrante. It allows Margherita Buy to display her considerable dramatic skills as a wife whose husband leaves her for a younger woman but the predictable story is an unexceptional addition to the many on the topic that have gone before. It is unlikely to make a box office splash.

Buy plays Olga, a contentedly married 40-something with two great kids and an engineer husband named Mario (Luca Zingaretti) who provides a beautiful home in Turin, is loving and attentive, and walks Otto the dog dutifully. Until one day he doesn't.

Explaining that he has found "a lack of meaning" in life, Mario says he needs to be alone to reflect upon it. Olga's best friend Lea (Gea Lionello) urges her to ask her errant husband what the lack of meaning's name is.

It turns out to be Carla Gaia Bermani Amaral), a beautiful young student Mario has been tutoring. This information is slow to emerge, however, and in the mean time, Olga goes to pieces and at one point physically assaults Mario and Carla in the street.

Into her life, however, come a bushy-haired musician named Damian (composer Goran Bregovic, who also scored the film), who has previously just been the annoying neighbor downstairs, and a vaguely threatening young bag lady (Alessia Goria) camped across the street.

The story winds to its mundane conclusion with Olga's children, the tramp, the musician and Otto the dog each playing a part in the woman's discovery that life goes on. As indeed it does.