> Her Whole Life Ahead
Director: Paolo Virzì
Cast: Isabella Ragonese, Micaela Ramazzotti, Guilia Salerno, Sabrina Ferilli, Valerio Mastandrea, Massimo Ghini, Elio Germano, Laura Morante, Edoardo Gabbriellini, Valentina Carnelutti, Caterina Guzzanti
Rating: (M)
3 stars (out of 5)
Reviewed by Mark Orton
The Italian Film Festival is always a good excuse to indulge in colour, fantastic-looking characters and, often, amusing meditations on the social condition.
However, this overly simplistic summation fails to recognise some of the grittier elements of Italian life that permeate even the feel-good flicks.
Billed as a romantic comedy, Her Whole Life Ahead provides a whole lot more. Sure there are funny moments, but not in the style of recent festival riots such as Manual of Love or My Best Enemy.
The thing about Her Whole Life Ahead is that within the relatively straightforward plot of philosophy graduate Marta finding employment in a call centre, there exist narratives dealing with the breakdown of the family, the impotence of trade unions and US cultural imperialism.
Marta (Isabella Ragonese) joins the cult-like world of telemarketing where she uses her nous to sell a useless kitchen gadget. Despite her success, she never quite fits in the happy-clapper culture, and when her bumbling knight in shining armour shows his true cards, it's hard to see how she might be redeemed.
Unfortunately, for all its gems, Her Whole Life Ahead has no consistent through-line, leaving it feeling like a collection of great short stories. Perhaps the narrator's voice was an afterthought to address that.
Best thing: Sabrina Ferilli as the narcissistic, control-freak call-centre manager Daniella.
Worst thing: The speed of the subtitles.
See it with: A glass of Chianti.
