Remember Me, My Love (2003)

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Had the trappings of a dysfunctional family dramadey, but sans much comedy. A family of four with the two kids about to leave the nest, caught my middle-aging eye (as opposed to my aging middle eye). The couple dealing with weariness on the surface with each other, but perhaps more truthfully with themselves...the tension of teenagers trying on adult situations too, these set me up with enough interest.All four family members come with their own crises, largely self-made and each oblivious to the others in the family. For some reason that obliviousness seemed to hurt me the viewer, more than the characters themselves.The father and son in the movie confuse sex with love. Italian men may do this better than others, it's debatable. The women stumble through sex while trying to find their careers, but each career is contingent upon the applause of others (art-house small theatre for mom, solid gold dancing and canned TV clapping for the daughter).By the way, all four family members are drop-dead good looking. Three are insecure about it, while the daughter pretty much banks on her beauty. She literally sleeps with her mirror, both soundly and while in coitus with a stepping stone stage hand leading towards the television altar. Does it matter that the role is literally that of a harem girl.To make the family members see each other, Dad is sent reeling by an old flame, even more powerfully attractive than the stunning mother. The flame's (Monica Belluci's) beauty is only over-shadowed by a vacant beach-house that her mother owns somewhere on the shoreline of heaven.Typically in these movies, we are fed some transcendent family epiphany as they rally together while facing their flaws. And I often don't mind those moments as I think there are genuine truths within them, but this film does something a bit bizarre.Spoiler coming...The car accident that nearly kills the father and as expected thereby saves the father, feels really wrong. Comments in the chat section of IMDb talk about Carlo at the end, the forced smile and the not-so-chance meeting the bellisima Belluci-ma. Also we see she that her character did in fact leave her husband.A day after watching this, I cannot shake the notion that this movie seems like an apology from the director (or the writer or a producer) to his lover for not leaving his family. And something tells me his own "car wreck" preventing him from joining her was only a symbolic one.I'm certain his jilted lover will always remember him, and not as kindly as this film would have one believe.

While I am no American Beauty fan, I admit it is a smartly made movie with great performances and fine writing. It seems director Muccino loved it so much he decided to make his own version, Ricordati di Me. Of course there is a middle-class family whose members detest each other; of course they all undergo some kind of revelation and change their attitude towards life. Meek Carlo (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) meets old flame Alessia (Monica Bellucci); frustrated Giulia (Laura Morante), Carlo's wife, pursues her passion for theater and becomes romantically interested in her director (Gabriele Lavia); their daughter Valentina (Nicoletta Romanoff) sleeps her way to stardom and their son Silvio (Silvio Muccino) develops a crush for a girl. Acting is uneven. Silvio Muccino, the director's son, gives a dreadful performance, mumbling his way through. Laura Morante is odiously over-the-top; I wonder if the blame is on the director, since I have seen this kind of overacting elsewhere in his filmography and Morante is usually a competent actress. Bentivoglio is better, although if you want to see him shine watch the underrated Come Due Coccodrilli. Nicoletta Romanoff is passable, but her character is so obnoxious that every time she was on screen I wanted her to be run over by a truck. Monica Bellucci, who usually just relies on her good looks, is better than expected; veteran Gabriele Lavia is the best of the bunch as the gay director.Sadly, these characters are both unlikable and boring, a deadly combination. Now, it is possible to make good and even great movies about characters who are reprehensible or just not very sympathetic (Once Upon a Time in America, Sleuth, Ronin, The Hateful Eight...), but they need to be compelling. In Ricordati di Me the protagonists are a bunch of shallow, bored individuals, as derivative as the movie they inhabit.4/10

In the dysfunctional Italian middle-class family Ristuccia, the middle-aged executive Carlo (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) has a stalled life without passion, bored in his work and having a monotonous life with his wife Giulia (Laura Morante). Giulia is a frustrated and hysterical woman because she gave up of being an actress in her youth to dedicate to the family. Their needy son Paolo (Silvio Muccino) feels lost and rejected, trying to find who he is and flirting with a schoolmate. Their seventeen years old daughter Valentina (Nicoletta Romanoff) is decided to work in a television show, and is fighting to have an audition. When Carlo meets his former sweetheart Alessia (Monica Bellucci) in a class reunion, they confess to each other that their marriages are in crisis and both feel passion arising again. Meanwhile Giulia is invited to an audition in a stage production and to participate of a play. Paolo tries to make friends using marijuana in his birthday party, and Valentina has sex with different guys trying to be a dancer of the famous TV show 'Ali Babbi'. Their relationships change when Carlo has an accident.Two years ago, I saw "L'Ultimo Bacio" on DVD, a beautiful and delightful movie about relationship in different phases of life directed by Gabriele Muccino. I was impressed with this director, and recently it was released "Recordati di me" on DVD in Brazil. I have just watched and it is amazing the sensibility of this director with the dynamics and feelings of a family, presenting a tale of passion, frustration and dreams. The realistic relationships between the members of this common middle-class family is disclosed though the lost dreams and passions of the parents, and the dreams and aspirations of their son and daughter. The cast is amazing, with a sensational Laura Morante, the stunning Monica Bellucci, the sexy Nicoletta Romanoff and the impressive Fabrizio Bentivoglio and Silvio Muccino, all of them perfect in their respective roles. This movie is recommended for those viewers that want to see a realistic, full of sentiments and never corny dramatic tale. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "No Limite das Emoções" ("In the Limit of the Emotions")

I watched "Ricordati di me" and it felt like a polite conversation that avoids self criticism and only accepts one's personal dreams and ambitions. A conversation that accomplishes nothing since the subconscious is too scared to embark on the dreams because there is no safety net. 'Remember Me, My Love,' as it is known in North America, is a great film that reveals the superficial mask of the family unit. It is the story of a family and its progressive loss of balance between the self and the public sphere of conventional happiness. This film begins beautifully with the personal woes of the family members and the audience can sense the inevitable tipping of the cauldron.The crossroads for most of the characters is based upon their personal potential and their own self-interests versus the ones created by their environments. For Carlo Ristuccia (played wonderfully by Fabrizio Bentivoglio), Giulia (another great performance by Laura Morante) and Alessia (played by the very talented Monica Belucci) the question at hand is based upon their waning existence. They all seem to feel lost and monotone while they struggle to feel the youthful sensation of bliss and love. The opening sequence is perfectly written and shot to portray the Ristuccias one dimensional life. The screenplay, subtle in its work, progressively displays the inevitable choices to be made by the members of the Ristuccia family.However, as the characters embark on their selfish adventures, they digress from their intentions and they seem to blindly be repeating their mistakes. Giulia attempts to reconcile her acting career yet fails to see the theme of the play as a reflection of her own state. Carlo, failing to write the last chapter of his novel, never completes his work because he is afraid to risk and lose. He, along with the rest of his family, tries to balance between the want and the need. A problem that is never realized - even in the end. "Remember Me, My Love" is a film that could have benefited from some slight editing, especially concerning Valentina's storyline, yet the end product leaves you feeling like the characters - a false sense of hope but a bigger sense of loss. This film strikes a reminiscent chord for its audience because it deals with loss - the loss of dreams, the loss of love - and its battle with throwing in the towel. None of the characters experience true happiness however they've convinced themselves at times. The first and final shot sum up the film beautifully as it questions the choices made by each of the man characters. It's all a facade, so enjoy the show.