Facing Windows

A sumptuous bourgeois romantic drama from the director of Haman and Ignorant Fairies, full of parallels and symmetries, repressed passions and sacrifice. Fleeing painful wartime memories, a wobbly old amnesiac gent falls into the care of a hard-pressed young Roman family. The husband, Filippo (Nigro), is sapped by night shifts at an abattoir, while his wife Giovanna (Mezzogiorno) is frustrated by his dwindling attentions and her menial daily grind, not to mention the mothballing of her old cake-making aspirations. Come night, her imagination wanders toward the Clark Kent lookalike (Bova, wooden) across the street. It sounds potentially silly, but Ozpetek keeps it under control for a surprising length of time. A film clearly under the influence of recent Almodóvar, this has the Spaniard's chic elegance and some of his passion, but not, finally, his toughness of purpose.