This is definitely a controversial subject but it also depends on the outlook of an individual towards the film. SOme can be offended while others can see it as a poignant tale of love that can never come together. In either csae, the film still leaves a lot to be desired and explained and as a viewer I felt a little cheated when I did not get explanations to certain events n the film.Lorenzo is a college student doing a student teaching assignment in a small Italian Village. He has recently lost his mother, is estranged from his father and has no family to speak of. One of his students Duilio atkes an instant liking for him and invites him home. Duilio's family is made up of his grandparents, his father, and a stepmother, and Lorenzo very much appreciates becoming a kind of surrogate cousin in the family. He is in the middle of a deteriorating, though short relationship with a woman and the human companionship is enjoyable. He ignores whatever sensual undertones there may be in Duilio's admiration of him. Furthest they go is when Duilio gives little kiss on Lorenzo's lips. When his step-mother thinks that there is something going on between the two, she asked her husband to ask Lorenzo to not visit them as often which he happily obliges although he is aghast to learn what Duilio's family thinks of the relationship. When Duilio's grandfather is ill, the stepmother asks for Lorenzo to take care of Duilio, because she is pretty sure that Lorenzo will not do anything wrong with Duilio. And this is exactly what happens. The next day, Lorenzo goes back to his college leaving his young student thinking that their relationship would never develop into a serious one because of age difference.
Was there really love between Duilio and Lorenzo. I am not sure. I think Duikio clearly loved his teacher but the teacher was as straight as it gets. He liked girls and fooled around with them but then he also enjoyed Duilio's company and also was aware of his love for him. Or maybe Lorenzo did love him because we see him struggle with himself when he and Duilio are alone finally and Lorenzo sees him sleeping. Was it just a matter of age difference or something else? Acting was good. Its surprising o see village people in 80s in Italy being open about various issues including a father talking to his son's teacher about not visiting the family and that too in a very low toned manner like 2 mature adults would do. Despite all this, the film did not leave back much to take home with me.
One time decent watch and that is it. (4.5/10)
Comments
Here's what I think, but I would have to watch the movie again to be sure that it applies here, but this comes from reading your review: One thing I think people in all human societies ought to understand and accept is that there is a difference between love and sex. Now, yes, ideally, the two things ought to come together, except love is universal and there is absolutely no reason to limit any love with any and everybody (regardless of age, gender, or sexual orientation, because, as I said, love and sex are different). (And by "love" I don't mean you have to then live together forever and establish a unique pair bond.) Sex, on the other hand, seems to need to be limited, although I admit that I sometimes think societies limit it more than is necessary. But my point is that one can, will, and should love anybody...it doesn't matter what gender or what age. Does one not love their own grandmother? Couldn't you love any elderly woman, then--a good movie on this might happen to be "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont" starring Joan Plowright. If any one of the characters she plays was a real life person that I knew, I would LOVE her. I wouldn't want to have sex with her (and that is no discredit to her, she probably wouldn't want to have sex with me), but for sure I would love her.
Same with children. Now children are a huge problem, because everyone thinks that if you love a child that is not your own, then that means that you want to have sex with them, so people in authority do everything they can to keep children away from adults. But honestly, the vast majority of adults want to have sex with OTHER ADULTS, but humans are hard-wired to love children. I think a person is sick if they do NOT love children. (And so now you have people in Los Angeles who have babies that they cannot afford, so they throw them away in downtown dumpsters. This apparently had become such a large problem that for a while there were even advertisements on the outsides of the metro busses begging parents to simply drop the babies off at any Fire Station, no questions asked, so that the children could be adopted, instead of throwing them way in dumpsters. I am not making this up.)
I was reading a book written about Tahiti in the 1940s and the author said that there were no orphans in Tahiti. Every adult will take in any child and raise him or her as their own if the circumstance requires it. There was a society that did not have all the sexual fears and taboos...they understood that children needed to be loved and cared for and all of them deserve adults who will look out for them, and every adult is ready to offer that love and caring to any child that needs it. Our society forbids that...a stranger could even be arrested for simply giving a child a ride home!
(continued in next comment)
So it makes perfect sense to me that a teacher, especially, who has chosen a career that is involved with the progress of youth, would care for and love a male student and the teacher doesn't have to be gay or straight or whatever, because SEX is not part of the equation; it's about LOVE, not sex.
And, as a side issue, I always think that straight guys who say "I'm straight, so I have no idea if he is good-looking for not" is someone who either has an IQ of only two digits, or else is insecure about his own masculinity. Of course they can tell when a guy is good-looking or not--what, are they BLIND? Can't they see how all the good-looking straight guys all hang out together? It has been proven that humans can judge the attractiveness of another person in an instant and even from a great distance. Very young children can place in order pictures of faces from the most beautiful to the least (and there is huge correlation or agreement across societies as to what that order would be), and it has nothing to do with sexual desire.
So for a teacher to have a love for a particular student may have an "awareness of the student's attractiveness" as part of it, but again, that is human nature and part of love.
Anyway, where this movie could be (or is) sad is that the young boy may have been SEXUALLY attracted to the teacher, but it couldn't happen. There is another very sad movie kind of like that that I saw recently, "En Tu Ausencia", a Spanish film. What I think happens in that one, though (another theory, coming here) is that a boy wanting and needing the love of a father-figure may believe that the only way to make a connection is through sex, so that confusion between the two continues unabated. You may want to check out "En Tu Auscencia", although I am not sure you will LIKE it, but I think it will add to your experience of foreign films. It's for sure a "coming of age" film, but it may not be correctly classified as a "gay film".