Director Ferzan Ozpetek's engrossing and ultimately moving "Facing Windows" (sub-titled) owes a small debt to past movies that build a life story around seemingly innocuous voyeurism. "Rear Window" comes to mind. This tale, set in Rome, is a sensitive examination of lives in conflict, largely through unanticipated meetings and the endless possibilities for personal growth.
Giovanna (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) is a young married woman with two adorable kids, the daughter charmingly precocious. She works as an inspector in a chicken factory with her wise-cracking portly friend and all-around co-conspirator, Ermine (played with wry panache by Serra Yilmaz). Giovanna, who has abandoned her dream of being a first-class pastry chef (too old to apprentice at 29, she laments), is married to Filippo (Filippo Nigor). Married for nine years, they've been together even longer. Their relationship, largely revolving around the kids they both pamper and adore, is conventionally stale.
A loving devoted dad who pulls his share of childcare responsibilities, Filippo's ambition probably miscarried in his teen years if it ever existed. He pumps gas on the night shift and seems to accept whatever life dishes out. He can't understand and is angered and disturbed by Giovanna's routine demands that he seek a better job. Notwithstanding the simmering marital discord, he's deeply in love - still - with his beautiful, sharp-tongued wife. Fortunately, they have a great flat and its kitchen window plays a central role in the story.
Out shopping Filippo and Giovanna encounter a well-dressed but disoriented elderly man who gives "Simone" as his name. Simone, later revealed to be actually named Davide, is subtly but powerfully played by Massimo Girotti. He is amnesiac, possibly suffering from Alzheimer's or some other organic brain syndrome. Kindhearted (he really is a good fellow) Filippo brings him home over Giovanna's initial objections. Simone becomes the contemporary Italian Man Who Came to Dinner (and like the original, he stays for much more more than a repast). Helping the confused gent to undress, Giovanna finds the tattooed numbers on his arm that reveal he probably is Jewish and that he survived hell.
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Giovanna steals glances when she can at a very handsome young man whose apartment faces hers. This is bank manager Lorenzo (Raoul Bova) and in a series of misadventures involving the peripatetic but delusional Simone, he helps Giovanna. And falls for her. She's already got the hots for him, having spied on his romantic life and figuring it's better than hers.
Two stories develop. One is about Simone/Davide recalling the horror of a dark October 1943 day when the Nazis, with more than enthusiastic aid from Italian collaborators, rounded up for murder as many of the Eternal City's Jews as could be found (the Vatican closed for business that day, so averting any personal observation of a terror its functionaries knew was happening). Davide's part in saving some fellow Jews, with a motive to a certain degree unusual and original, unrolls slowly with affecting detail. As does why he, in his mental confusion, adopted a different name.
The second line is Giovanna's flirtation with Lorenzo and her steady maturation, her recognition that some wants in life may be attained with sacrifice and some sacrifices are ultimately too much to endure or, more importantly, to inflict on others.
Giovanna Mezzogiorno gives a deep, thoughtful and very believable portrayal of a young woman who through fortuitous circumstances must painfully re-examine what she wants out of life and how much she'll pay for change. Only a few feet of air separates her apartment from Lorenzo's but Giovanna's obsessive gazing through glass masks how little can really be known about another person and more importantly about oneself through mere, actually sterile, viewing.
Warning: about three-quarters of the way through "Facing Windows," moviegoers will be struck by sharp hunger pangs. Have confection on hand as a temporary antidote.
Andrea Guerra's score is a bit intrusive but it's nice music.
9/10.
Giovanna (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) is a young married woman with two adorable kids, the daughter charmingly precocious. She works as an inspector in a chicken factory with her wise-cracking portly friend and all-around co-conspirator, Ermine (played with wry panache by Serra Yilmaz). Giovanna, who has abandoned her dream of being a first-class pastry chef (too old to apprentice at 29, she laments), is married to Filippo (Filippo Nigor). Married for nine years, they've been together even longer. Their relationship, largely revolving around the kids they both pamper and adore, is conventionally stale.
A loving devoted dad who pulls his share of childcare responsibilities, Filippo's ambition probably miscarried in his teen years if it ever existed. He pumps gas on the night shift and seems to accept whatever life dishes out. He can't understand and is angered and disturbed by Giovanna's routine demands that he seek a better job. Notwithstanding the simmering marital discord, he's deeply in love - still - with his beautiful, sharp-tongued wife. Fortunately, they have a great flat and its kitchen window plays a central role in the story.
Out shopping Filippo and Giovanna encounter a well-dressed but disoriented elderly man who gives "Simone" as his name. Simone, later revealed to be actually named Davide, is subtly but powerfully played by Massimo Girotti. He is amnesiac, possibly suffering from Alzheimer's or some other organic brain syndrome. Kindhearted (he really is a good fellow) Filippo brings him home over Giovanna's initial objections. Simone becomes the contemporary Italian Man Who Came to Dinner (and like the original, he stays for much more more than a repast). Helping the confused gent to undress, Giovanna finds the tattooed numbers on his arm that reveal he probably is Jewish and that he survived hell.
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Giovanna steals glances when she can at a very handsome young man whose apartment faces hers. This is bank manager Lorenzo (Raoul Bova) and in a series of misadventures involving the peripatetic but delusional Simone, he helps Giovanna. And falls for her. She's already got the hots for him, having spied on his romantic life and figuring it's better than hers.
Two stories develop. One is about Simone/Davide recalling the horror of a dark October 1943 day when the Nazis, with more than enthusiastic aid from Italian collaborators, rounded up for murder as many of the Eternal City's Jews as could be found (the Vatican closed for business that day, so averting any personal observation of a terror its functionaries knew was happening). Davide's part in saving some fellow Jews, with a motive to a certain degree unusual and original, unrolls slowly with affecting detail. As does why he, in his mental confusion, adopted a different name.
The second line is Giovanna's flirtation with Lorenzo and her steady maturation, her recognition that some wants in life may be attained with sacrifice and some sacrifices are ultimately too much to endure or, more importantly, to inflict on others.
Giovanna Mezzogiorno gives a deep, thoughtful and very believable portrayal of a young woman who through fortuitous circumstances must painfully re-examine what she wants out of life and how much she'll pay for change. Only a few feet of air separates her apartment from Lorenzo's but Giovanna's obsessive gazing through glass masks how little can really be known about another person and more importantly about oneself through mere, actually sterile, viewing.
Warning: about three-quarters of the way through "Facing Windows," moviegoers will be struck by sharp hunger pangs. Have confection on hand as a temporary antidote.
Andrea Guerra's score is a bit intrusive but it's nice music.
9/10.