francescabalzani-26183

Love and Other Disasters (2006)

Pretty disappointing

"Love and other disasters" could be considered a disaster itself, not excellent acting, quite dull comedy and a pretty ridiculous storyline.

Emily (Brittany Murphy) is a pretty young girl looking for love and working in fashion. Her life is surreal, in the same way as her personality is. She shares a flat with her beloved gay friend Peter (Matthew Rhys), who is also looking for love, but is too shy and clumsy. Their supposedly strong bond feels weird and not realistic. I spent the whole film expecting a development, which never happened.

Apart from the non-convincing love triangle and final solution, I really disliked the characters: Emily is fakely perfect, seems rather superficial and her attitude is just annoying. On top of that her accent and some of the expressions she uses are just ridiculous, for example the fact she calls her friend "babies". Peter is dull, so so dull. Their friend Tallulah (Catherine Tate) is funny at times, but also a cliché character: a frustrated woman obsessed with sex and young men.

I did not laugh much and I didn't feel moved by any of the love stories, so it's a no for me!

All I See Is You (2016)

Beautiful photography in a non-convincing story

"All I see is you" is 2016 psychological thriller, starring Blake Lively as Gina, a woman who lost her sight after a tragic car crash which killed her parents, and James, her seemingly devoted husband. Despite her blindness they lead quite a good life in Bangkok, until Gina tries eye surgery to get her sight back. This is the beginning of the collapse of their relationship, revealing the darkest sides of both characters.

What I liked the most is the photography of the film, especially the images that try to describe Gina's perception of the world around her. I also liked both performances and Blake Lively's surprising transformation.

In spite of this some aspects of the film annoyed me: Gina's sister and brother-in-law are too much, their intense relationship is supposed to highlight the difficulties Gina and James are going through, but it does not work, as they appear superficial and childish. Then the stress on sex is a bit excessive too, especially when Gina enters a sex club in Barcelona and watches two people having sex. What is the actual point of it, apart from adding some spice to the storytelling?

Finally I don't like that James is perceived as the only bad character: what he does by handling and changing Gina's drops is beyond words, but she is no saint either. From the very moment she starts seeing again she stops loving her husband (did she ever love him though?) and becomes a completely different person, a very nasty one too. On top of that she cheated on him and got pregnant, pretending not to be able to see anymore, when actually she did.

The whole situation is just depressing and depicts the worst aspect of human beings: the desire to be indespensable, the tendency to cheat and how fake some people can be...

The Zone of Interest (2023)

Gut-wrenching magnificence

The zone of interest is a masterpiece, a magnificent work of art, whose strength lies in the ability to shock the audience without showing any violent or distressing scenes.

The story revolves around the real life events of a Nazi commander, Rudolf Höss, and his family during WWII. They lived next to Auschwitz concentration camp and, despite the horrors happening next to them, Rudolf and Hedwig, his wife, create a sort of "dream house", where they lead an apparently ordinary life, with the comfort of the riches taken from the people exterminated in the camp and the creation of an idyllic garden.

The extraordinary power of this film is due to the skilled use of images and sound: the colours are vivid and many scenes carry an extremely symbolic meaning. At the same time the psychedelic use of sounds, which is terribly evocative and even disturbing at times, makes the audience participate in the story, thanks to the continuous use of sensory stimuli.

Disturbingly beautiful and utterly shocking.

Alfie (2004)

Uninspiring and tasteless

This 2004 version is a remake of the 1966 film of the same name. I cannot compare it to the previous version as I haven't seen it, so my view is definetely limited. Nonetheless I found the whole film pretty annoying.

Alfie is a British womanizer living in New York, city chosen especially to find the greatest number of women to sleep with. Everything carries on fine for Alfie until he starts realizing that his actions can hurt people around him and the ones he "cares for" (does he really care for anybody?).

First of all I didn't like the fact that the main character frequently talked to the camera, it created a strange hybrid I could not understand. Alfie's Londoner accent makes the whole situation even odder.

Then I couldn't sympathise with any of the characters: Alfie is terribly narcissistic and vain, seeking pleausure obsessively, but the same is true for most of the women he sleeps with. Shallow relationships and complete absence of any form of human empathy.

The saddest part is that I do not believe Alfie redeemed himself at the end, it feels fake and ridiculous.

Missing (2023)

Unrealistic and excessive

This thriller did not keep tense, it did not give me the chills, it was excessive in its use of technology and, at times, ridiculous.

Grace and June are a mother and a daughter who have apparently suffered a terrible loss. As a consequence of that Grace is overprotective and June feels oppressed. When her mum leaves for a holiday and disappears, June starts looking for her and for answers, using technology in an impeccable way.

Even though the story is interesting, even intriguing at times, something did not click for me: this excessive use of technology is not realistic, especially considering a teenager seems to have better investigation skills than the FBI. Some twists are just a bit too much and some character relationships seem a bit ridiculous, for example the one between June and Javier, a Colombian cleaner hired to help with the investigation.

The idea is interesting, but there should be some limits... otherwise the feeling you get from watching this film is not the tension typically given by a thriller, but rather the sense of dismay caused by sci-fi films.

Io e Spotty (2022)

Weirdly nice

Eva and Matteo are two young people who are struggling with life: Eva is a law student who is feeling a lot of pressure to do well, but does not like the path she has taken. Matteo is an anti-social cartoonist: he is extremely gifted, but also very depressed and not able to socialise with people in a normal way. They meet unconventionally and find that actually they can help each other feel better.

This film is very sweet in its simplicity, it deals with hard topics in a soft way. I really loved the setting and the photography. Despite this something is missing, the story is rather absurd at times and the dialogues seem a bit surreal.

As it is an independent film I really recommend watching it: it is definetely not a masterpiece, but it is very sweet and it makes the audience feel good.

Vivere (2019)

Living and deceiving

Vivere tells the story of an extremely dysfunctional family, in which the children seem to have taken the role of their parents and vice versa.

Susi is a dance teacher, her life is characterised by continuous frustration and extreme fatigue. Her partner Luca is a free lance journalist who feels extremely disappointed with his life in general, he is mean, selfish and a cheater. They have a little daughter, Lucilla, who suffers from asthma for psychological reasons. Luca also has another child, Pierpaolo, who was brought up by his wealthy mother and grandfather and who is a sort of paternal figure for his own father. Then there is Mary, an Irish au-pair who gets entangled in this dysfunctional system.

After watching this film I felt extremely melancholic: most of the characters are just bad, at times pathetic, depressing and what makes it worse is that I could not perceive any evolution, especially for what concerns Luca and Susi: he does not change much, nor does she. He continues being selfishly childish and she continues a sort of masochistic delirium.

Moreover I thought there were too many themes/problems tackled in the film: health issues, cheating, abortion, drugs, depression, corruption... it is an overload of tragedy.

Saltburn (2023)

A bit too much... even for the strongest stomachs

When watching an Emerald Fennel film you can expect some sort of research into the darkest sides of human psyche and you can also foresee that there will be some kind of disturbing provocation. Nonetheless I think this film takes it a bit too far.

The story revolves around the obsessive friendship between Oliver (Barry Keoghan), a clumsy outcast student at Oxford, and Felix (Jacob Elordi), an upper class god-like fellow student. When Felix invites Oliver to spend the summer at his stunning mansion, out of pity for Oliver's family problems, we find out that he is not that clumsy after all.

I shall start with what I enjoyed: the photography of this film is gorgeous, wonderful settings and beautiful costumes. Some performances were very good too: Keoghan is eerie to the point of giving goosebumps, which is just perfect for that very role. Elordi is magnetic, his movements make him look like a celestial figure. I really liked Alison Oliver, who plays Venetia: I cannot believe her transformation and the same is true for Carey Mulligan, who plays a minor character.

There are quite a few problems with this film though: first of all the plot does not make sense, there are parts which are nit properly connected. The story seems forced and the final message is pretty unclear. Is this a critique against upper classes? Or just the depiction of how deranged a psychopath can be?

Some scenes are too much and I cannot understand the sense in them. For example when Oliver licks Venetia's period blood: it is not erotic in any way, but just disgusting. Or when Oliver licks what is left of Felix's semen in the bathtub. Or when Oliver masturbates on Felix's grave... and so on. Is this artistic? Is it significant? Or is it just a way to provoke the audience, to make them think how intelligent the whole thing is.

I was rather disappointed and felt perplexed at the end of the film. What I was left with is that there are stunning moments, followed by horrible ones and a series of mean characters that make sympathising feelings impossible. The sense of all this is the biggest missing point.

Kolskaya sverhglubokaya (2020)

A deeply unsettling dive

There is something extremely eerie about this film, and it isn't just because it is a sci-fi horror. You can sense a culture behind it, a time of great tension and of imposed silences.

Set in the 80s, The Superdeep tells the story of a scientific research that takes place in remote Russia, in a lab built kilometres underground. Following some strange events that occured in the lab, the team summons an epidemiologist, Anna Federova (Milena Radulovic), to understand what is happening.

The rest of the film is a slow but relentless discovery of a new disease which could kill humanity.

Even though the film is really intriguing, in its own creepy kind of way, some bits are not completely convincing. There is also a great resemblance with "The thing", with the main difference that the monster in this film is much more disgusting, because of the very way it is formed.

The end is open to different opinions, as we do not really understand whether the outcome is positive or negative.

Over all I think the film is worth watching, since the idea around the story and the subtext behind it are really interesting. I also liked the main actress: she manages to create a character who is stern and strong, but at the same time deeply unsettling, in the same way as the whole atmosphere is.

The Choice (2016)

An overload of sugar

"The Choice" is the traditional romantic film in which two apparent enemies meet each other, fall in love, get married, go through painful times and get better and stronger than ever before. The whole storyline is pretty predictable, but it goes on forever making the experience of watching it even harder.

The film is set in a sort of headen like scenario, in which Travis and Gabby can get to know each other and their love blossoms. What I enjoyed the most was the setting itself, really really beautiful. The rest of it is just a predictable sequence of clichés and cheesy lines. Travis (Benjamin Walker) speaks with such a strong southern accent that, at times, you can't even take him seriously, as he is the only one speaking that way. Gabby (Teresa Palmer) is just annoying, a perfectionist and obsessive controller, with a continuous look of disappointment/pain on her face. I seriously did not like the couple they created and on top of that the final crisis they go through seems to have been created just to make them more human, to make the audience understand that yes, they are beautiful, they live in a beautiful house, they have beautiful children, beautiful careers, a beautiful relationship, everything looks absolutely perfect, but they are human after all, they suffer with dignity and they get their final miracle... just a bit too much...

Ho voglia di te (2007)

The fair of void

This supposedly love story is the exhibition of beauty and perfection, a stage on which plastic characters show their stereotypical cover and try to hide the emptiness inside them.

In the second chapter of this cheesy storyline Step (Riccardo Scamarcio) goes back home after three years in the States. He meets Gin (Laura Chiatti), they chase each other for some time and then fall in "love". When Step cheats on her with his ex-girlfriend Babi (Katy Saunders), Gin breaks up with him and he finds out that she had been platonicly in love with him for years. Nonetheless his great charm manages to heal her wounds and they end up together again.

I cannot find anything decent in this film: the story is ridiculous (for example Gin following Step everywhere for years is just creepy), the characters are beautiful empty boxes, there is absolutely nothing interesting to communicate. I don't even like most of the sub-text:

• the main character cheats on his girlfriend but they get back together as he puts up a poster of them together in the street... do people really think that would be enough?? Do women need this?

• all the characters look wonderful, they are fit and sporty, there is no natural charm.

• superficial conversations, followed by fake pain and fake love.

Foe (2023)

I feel spaced...

Whenever I see a film starring Saoirse Ronan I am immediately attracted to it. She is a fiery chamaleon, capable of giving convincing life to any character. She manages to create something beautiful in this film too, also thanks to the work she shares with Paul Mescal, a vibrant and emotional actor.

The main problem is that the great abilities of these two actors cannot sustain the mere lack of sense in the story.

The film is set in a dystopian future in which the Earth is not habitable anymore (have you ever heard anything similar?). Hen and Junior (even their names feel a bit ridiculous!) live in a remote part of the Australian outback, struggling with the hardship such a living entails. One night a strange figure, Terrance, turns up at their door announcing that Junior has been selected to go to space for some time, in order to find another solution for human life. He will be replaced by a sort of robot identical to him, so that his wife won't be left alone.

In spite of the initial hint at space we do not get to see any travelling through the stars, but rather the exploration of the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence.

Despite a wonderful photography and a great actor interpretation, the story does not make sense, it drags for such a long time in a nonsensical psychological exploration and a final twist which just makes it worse...

Cinquanta km all'ora (2024)

A journey through timeless bonds

This is one of those films that linger in a viewer's mind after watching them.

The story revolves around the difficult relationship between two brothers: Rocco, played by Fabio De Luigi and Guido, played by Stefano Accorsi. After decates apart they reunite at their father's (Alessandro Haber) funeral. They decide to take their father's ashes to their mother's grave, which is far from where they are, so they set off on a wonderful journey, riding two old-fashioned scooters.

This film manages to combine some great laughs with a widespread sense of melancholia, which can be perceived in the timeless landscapes, in all the little details that rimind us of the '80s, but especially in the beauty of a brotherly bond which comes to life again. The journey is the real protagonist, as it is the symbol of something much deeper and more profound.

The photography is magnificent and it is a tribute to the setting, the Emilia-Romagna region. The soundtrack evokes times of youth which are still relevant today.

De Luigi and Accorsi portray the difficulties of brotherhood perfectly, the pain of losing somebody you love and the joy of finding them again after years, realising they are the exact same people.

I highly recommend this film, it is a great little gem!

American Pastoral (2016)

A painful bewilderment

Unfortunately I haven't read the book and so my perspective is rather limited. I put off watching this film as I had the feeling it was going to be painful, and it was, very much.

The story revolves around the two protagonists (Swede and Dawn), a beautiful couple who seem to have it all, until their daughter (Merry) starts manifesting signs of psychological struggle and extreme anger. One of the main problems is that there are holes in the storyline: why does Merry get transformed like that? Why does she decide to lead such a life? Why do Swede and Dawn keep on being together? There aren't many explanations provided, but just a sad sequence of events.

I liked Dakota Fanning's performance, she gave me goosebumps and I also think Jennifer Connelly did a great job, her character is unbearably annoying and troubled. I am not sure about McGregor: he is the real omnipresent protagonist, but something is missing, there is a sort of restraint in his performance which makes it difficult to understand him.

Ultimately I really don't know what to think of it, after days I am still feeling confused and I think that is the worst part...

Little Fockers (2010)

No limits to banality

I shall start by saying that "less is more" and this film proves it in the opposite way. I think there should be a limit for comedies too, a limit of decency and a limit in an endless sequence of clichés and sexual jokes. I think so not because I am a prude, but just because it is not funny, it does not make you laugh if repeated over and over again.

This film is the exact repetition of the previous ones, just with two more kids included. The rest of it is the exact sequence of family stereotypes, religious stereotypes and sexual stereotypes. The characters are void of any identity, they are just symbolic figures used for the storyline:

• the crazy father-in-law married to a sweetly patient beauty queen
• the daughter suffering from oedipal syndrome
• the weak and clumsy son-in-law/husband
• the embarassing Jewish parents.

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)

A journey through the tiny beauties in life

This delicately beautiful fairytale tells the story of two young teenagers, Margaret and Mark, who happen to find each other in a time loop. The same day gets repeated over and over again, but nobody is aware of this apart from the two of them. Even if they enjoy an initial exploration of this strange phenomenon, after some time Mark wants to find a solution to make time go forwards again, but Margaret does not agree with him for some reason.

They are highly intellectual individuals who share the same sense of non-belonging, the same curiosity, the same humour and poetic look at things. The whole film is very beautiful thanks to its unique perception on life and on the little things that make it wonderful. It is a long overview of stunning tiny details.

I Love You, Man (2009)

So easy it gets difficult to watch

The four points I have given to the film go to Jason Segel, the only real source of comedy in the whole film. The rest of it is just watery and senseless.

Peter and Zooey are engaged, everything seems perfect: great relationship, great house, great careers, great friend support on her side. The only thing that makes Zooey skeptical is the fact that her boyfriend has no friends. He overhears her and being such a good soul, he makes it his mission to find one. He meets Sydney by chance and the two of them hit it off immediately. Is it going to be too much though?

I think the story is ridiculous and the majority of the characters are even worse. Zooey is just spoilt and unbearable, her friends are nymphomaniacs, Peter is such a weak and plain character. I really don't know what happened to Paul Rudd in this film, I normally like him, but he did not communicate much and everything felt akward.

The only laughs come from Segel, who is utterly hilarious as usual, apart from the bits where he has to be cheesy too.

The Artist (2011)

An old-fashioned masterpiece

The Artist is an experimental film which uses the black and white mute style typical of the 1920s, when the story itself is set.

The story revolves around the adventures and then misadventures of a Hollywood movie star, George Valentin, who starts struggling when movies introduce sound and speech. That marks the beginning of his personal crisis, both psychologically and on a career level. The only person who tries to save him is Peppy Miller, a young actress who has made a fortune and who owes the beginning of her career success to Valentin himself.

The Artist is pure beauty: its photography, its soundtrack, the ability to keep the audience hypnotised in spite of a total lack of speech, especially thanks to the great performance given by Jean Dujardin. His portrayal of Valentin is charming, funny and deeply moving. Berenice Bejo gives a great performance too.

The Artist is a brave experimental masterpiece which makes us reflect on the rollercoaster effect of Hollywood, where an artist gets elevated to sacred stardom very quickly, just to be left plummeting down once the charm starts fading away.

The Idea of You (2024)

The ideao of a puerile fairytale

Rom-coms, as a definition, are supposed to be rom-coms: lots of love (or something similar to it), lots of cheesy scenes, a sprinkle of sex, shake everything well and that's your recipe. This is to say that I knew what I was going to face when I decided to watch it. Anyway I was disappointed, especially considering the clamour made around this film.

Solène (Anne Hathaway) is a 40 year old divorcée who runs a successful art gallery and looks after her teenage daughter. She has been through a lot, especially being mistreated by her nasty ex-husband. Yet Solène appears perfect: perfect shape, perfect body, perfect outfits, perfect mum, perfect house and perfect job. This perfection does not make you sympathise with her all that much.

Hayes is a twenty something year old band member, he is sexy, free and seems to have it all too. Nevertheless he is frustrated with his life, does not feel fulfilled and needs a change.

When Solène and Hayes meet they are immediately attracted to each other. After an initial refrain they jump into a relationship which is represented as pure perfection again: the perfect emotional and sexual connection. Age does not even seem to be a factor to take into consideration, especially considering we are talking about sexy Anne Hathaway.

The main problem with this story is exactly the lack of problems in it: apparently they need to struggle because of how big a taboo their relationship is, they break up over and over but then they get back together as if nothing ever happened. Even after five years without seeing each other (this is because the relationship was having such a bad impact on Solène's daughter, but not later though?) they meet and just smile at each other with watery eyes. It is just too much, too cheesy, too pathetic. I would even be fine with that, but what I am not fine with is this supposed realistic human struggle which is not realistic at all. They are two fakely perfect people who play suffering parts, when pain cannot be perceived all that much. I couldn't feel anything real in this film, nor I managed to sympathise with the main characters in any way.

Mean Girls (2004)

Funny, at times

This is a typical teenage comedy which provides a few good laughs, but also presents a lot of cliché-situations.

Cady (Lindsay Lohan) has just moved from Africa and attends school for the very first time, as she had always been homeschooled before that. She makes friends with outcasts Janis (Lizzie Caplan) and Damian immediately, as they seem the only human people in the school. She is also welcomed by "the Plastics", a group of fakely good-looking rich girls, led by ruthless Regina George (Rachel McAdams). Even if at the beginning Cady, Janis and Damian come up with a plan to take revenge against the mean "plastics", soon Cady gets transformed into one of them and loses her identity.

The cast is very good, I especially love Lizzie Caplan and Rachel McAdams in this film. There are various funny moments, but at the same time lots of trivial situations and cheesy times.

It is a light watch, good for a couple of weightless hours.

Reality Bites (1994)

An absolute classic

This is one of my favourite films, I don't even remember how many times I have seen it and each time I watch it my heart melts.

Everything in the film is really 90s style, in the most intriguing sense of it: it is a perfect portrayal of what life was like at the time, underground music, free love, the typical struggle of young people to find their own path in life and make compromises, coming to terms with reality itself.

A group of friends Lelaina (Winona Ryder), Troy (Ethan Hawke), Vickie (Janeane Garofalo) and Sammy (Sam Zahn) have just graduated and are trying to follow their dreams. Vickie wants to find love desperately and she ends up sleeping around, Sammy has to face his sexuality and Troy and Lelaila are two in love with each other, but they can't admit it to themselves.

Ethan Hawke is the incarnation of sexy, the typical troubled musician who does not seem to care about anything, but he does. His chemistry with Winona Ryder is tangible. Janeane Garofalo is really funny, her moves and her voice are so magnetic. Then there is Ben Stiller, playing Lelaina's boyfriend and directing this wonderful film, he seems to be born to make comedy.

Watching this film is a whirlwind of emotions, laughs and moving love scenes. It is a must watch and it will never become outdated.

Deep Water (2022)

An embarassing nonsensical story

Vic Van Allen and his beautiful wife Melinda seem to have it all, they are rich and free, apart from a little detail: she cheats on him constantly and he kills her lovers, because he does not want to break up with her.

Why doesn't he want to break up wirh her? Not clear, of course she is beautiful and sexy, but she is also a spoilt nymphomaniac. She gets really annoying after a while and he does too, as his actions are incomprehensible.

They live their life partying, having dinners, getting drunk, basically doing nothing interesting and that is because he's very rich, but especially because there is a serious lack of brain usage, especially for what concerns Melinda.

The film is supposed to be a thriller, but most of it is just pseudo-erotic, hinting at sex all the time. Normally there should be some sort of suspance in a thriller, but this one reveals the truth immediately and then procedes to nothing, in the sense that at the end nothing much happens: he kills her last lover, the two "loving birds" get close again (just because he gave her a collection of old photos) and when she discovers he has killed again she wants to leave but stays, convinced by their four year old daughter, who seems the most sensible character of all.

An utter disappointment and a total nonsense.

Labor Day (2013)

Surreal dullness

In a remote American town, during some hot summer days, we meet Adele, a depressed divorcée and Henry, her teenage son. Adele is so down that she hardly ever leaves the house, apart from when she has to do the shopping. At the shops they bump into Frank, a wierd man on the run. Somehow he convinces them to take him to their house to hide. What was supposed to be just a few hours turns out to be a few days, in which Adele and Frank fall in love, thanks to his hidden kindness and culinary abilities.

They are attracted to each other also because of their traumatic stories: in fact we later find out that he was just a victim of an abusive relationship and had been accused of murdering his wife. We also learn that Adele is so depressed because she suffered many miscarriages and finally had a baby girl born dead. After that her husband left her.

The whole story just seems a bit too much, the relationship between the main characters is weird, the little boy is weird and the events are weird too. Some scenes are dragged on for so long, like at the beginning, when we see a road trip in the middle of the woods, with a creepy sountrack that made it seem like the beginning of a horror film.

I found everything rather cheesy and unbearable, especially at the end when Frank faces his destiny back in prison with his usual good pride. Adele waits for him for years, continuing to be depressed. Finally the little boy was so impressed by Frank's recipes that he decided to become a chef.

What I disliked tho most was this overload of drama, portraying characters as stereotypes: Frank is the good brave victim who will never surrender and who will be good forever. Adele is a weak woman who suffered very much and seems destined to continue suffering. There is a way in pain too...

Radioactive (2019)

An extraordinary life portrayal

19th century France - Maria Sklodowska is a Polish scientist who has lived in Paris for a few years. She is extremely intelligent, ambitious and determined. She starts working with another important scientist, Pierre Curie, and their relationship soon evolves into romance, hence her married name Marie Curie.

The film portrays their achievements, such as the discovery of radium and polonium, and their struggles when the side effects of radium start becoming clear. Marie Curie had to face terrible challenges on her own, as her husband died in an accident.

The best aspect of this film is the acting, Rosamund Pike is magnetic, absolutely flawless in her performance. I also liked the scenes which are structured in a surreal way, making them dream-like.

In some moments some of the consequences of the discoveries made by Marie Curie and her husband are shown, such as the atomic bombs in Japan. Differently from many others I don't think this was out of place, as it is a real creation, made also thanks to what was discovered. This does not mean that Curie is to blame, but rather that the evil use of her discoveries should be held responsible.

Indecent Proposal (1993)

Timeless charming classic

David and Diana are a couple of young passionate lovers, madly in love with each other and free to live their love with simplicity. When they start thinking that they need more money to buy a bigger house and make a better living they try gambling. There is where they meet John, a middle aged millionaire who offers them $1.000.000 in exchange for a night with Diana. They think their love will manage to overcome this, but it is just the beginning of their dreams collapsing to the ground.

There are several things I love about this film: it is beautiful, its glazed colours, its soundtrack, the charm of the places portrayed and the main actors. Diane and David are so beautiful together, a real moving couple, they seem to portray that fascinating concept of two halves meeting. Maybe not everyone has got another half somewhere, maybe not everyone wants one and that's fine, but seeing them just makes me dream.

What I also love is the main message of the film: money cannot buy everything, especially it cannot buy love and love does not need money to sustain itself. It is not a judgemental film, but it opens to interesting considerations.