The White Space

Straying perilously close to TV-movie territory, this latest from Italian veteran Comencini manages to inject what sounds like an MOR textbook weepie, about the emotional toil of premature birth, with a serious dose of integrity and pathos. This is chiefly down to a very affecting and discreet performance from Buy as self-assured middle aged teacher Maria who is unable to hold down a relationship. Her life takes a turn for the existentially harrowing as another fleeting lover waves her goodbye and she finds herself alone and carrying child. After a needlessly baggy preamble, the focus sharpens in the second half as Maria is forced to take stock of her life and her future as her daughter spends a crucial two months inside an incubator. A little soapy, for sure, but it won’t take much for you to succumb to the film’s life-affirming charms.