The Keys to the House

Story about love, duty and the shadows of past. About the touch of two different worlds, about a child and his father and the forms of beauty and freedom. A movie about essential things of passing days and the heart of words, images and appearances. A film of an actor, the impressive Andrea Rossi, delicate, expressive, natural. Basic, manifesto for understand a disease. In fact, lesson about the science to discover the other. About the way for be yourself. A film as a water. Colors, nuances, gravel. And subtle interpretation of Charlotte Rampling, the strain of Stuart Rossi's character and the gestures of special star - Andrea Rossi. Touching, profound and natural. A movie like a time of world's contemplation in deep silence. As walk on the beach in the evening. Or a time of talk with your feelings.

A love story. Or a friend story. Beautiful for the science to use the right tone about a delicate and painful problem. A touching portrait of parenthood. And its nuances. And its price. And its limits. After its end, the basic thing who remains, long time, alive in memory, is its special simplicity. Delicate, convincing, touching. Like a confession. With its lovely form of poetry of small, basic things. With the science to not be more than honest exposure of well known facts. For the flavor of personal story. And , not the last, as the expected film.

This movie could have been extremely heartwarming, considering the handicaps of the young boy and his struggles to be a functioning part of society, along with his relationship with his 'new' dad. I was expecting such tremendous emotion and drama, and the story left me with so many questions about the normalcy of it all. One thing that really disturbed me, and I'm suspecting this to be as a result of it being a foreign film, is that as cheesy as it sometimes may be, the film was sorely lacking background music. That missing element made the experience dry compared to what it could have been. The young boy playing Andrea was absolutely inspiring, though, and I found myself wondering how it must have been for him to memorize lines and follow directions in the making of this movie. Charlotte Rampling performed beautifully and convincingly. The father was just plain beautiful; I had a difficult time figuring out his character. My recommendation for this film is really 50-50.

We thought this was a touching story of the real tragedy of a parent dealing with the life-long disability, all the more so since this parent had walked away so early in child's life. We were much impressed with Charlotte Rampling, who we have seen in many good roles, who gave a marvelous portrayal of parent who have given her whole life to the care of her own daughter, willingly, but with the admonishment to the younger father in brutal honestly, to be prepared to suffer. We also wonder about her use of languages. Last film we saw she spoke French, and in this one Italian and German. Does she really speak these all, or her words dubbed in? We're glad she is working and always a true professional.

Gianni (Kim Rossi Stuart) has never seen his son Paolo, who is disabled. But Fate makes them meet, Gianni accompanies him to Germany where the child can follow a new therapy... It is also a trip where the young father tries to catch up with the relationship with his son. In hospital Gianni meets a woman (Charlotte Rampling) who has a also a disabled daughter, a woman which teaches him very much about accepting differences.

Gianni Amelio doesn't direct a spectacular movie about handicap (it's not like "Rain Man"), he directs a road movie which seems sometimes (from a technical point of view) a documentary. There's not room for too many tears, dramas and moralistic considerations. It's a pretty film which has the goal of showing problems the way they are, without exaggerations. There's much reality and humanity.