It was the night of psychoanalysts whose children die. This one is leaps and bounds better than Lantana--probably due to the fact that this one seemed to have a point and a unifying theme whereas the other was just an amalgamation of bad marriages. This one is Italian and is about a psychoanalyst's, Giovanni, family and what happens when a son dies suddenly. The film centers mainly on Giovanni but offers a good deal of time to his wife Paola and daughter Irene both before and after Andreas' death and also gives us enough of Andreas that we understand the loss felt in the family. What I think might work best in this case is that the death comes almost squarely in the middle of the film so the story is not wholly consumed by the death and the second half is rendered all of the more powerful. And, for being so simple and focusing on only four characters, it's an intricate story filled with details.
All of that said, it's a decent movie but I wouldn't run out to see it again. I didn't feel the mother's emotion when she's wailing over her dead son the way I felt Angelina Jolie wail in A Mighty Heart. The same passion just isn't there. But it is an interesting look at a therapist and how he has to juggle his work and his family life when both end up being so personal and how the therapist has to learn to seek help himself.
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