What do we mean when we talk about love?

Children watch us, De Sica used to say. Now, they film us too: it's what young Chiara does with the videocamera given to her by her family for her first holy communion. Until then she had watched them, - all of them - noting their confusion, their disorientation, their unhappiness: she asked God to help them, only to withdraw her request in the end, deciding it was probably too much to ask, even of God.
It's through the inquisitive eyes of a child, therefore, that Cristina Comencini, in what is by far her best film yet, presents the characters of "Il più bel giorno della mia vita": the characters are the three children of an elderly lady- the first unhappily married, the second desperately lonely following the death of her husband, the third a closet homosexual struggling to hide his sexual identity- who return home occasionally for family lunches during which truth somehow never comes out.
In different ways, each of them bears the wounds of an upbringing founded on a kind of benevolent conformism and extreme attachment to traditional values: as a result, they feel helplessly out of place each time life forces them to make unorthodox choices or break with tradition.
Skilfull in describing the fluctuations of the heart, Comencini tones down potentially tragic notes in a sentimental comedy that is both lively and sharp: the dialogues are largely convincing and in no way affected, there's no lack of ironic underscoring, and the excellent acting lends even greater credibility. The secular rejection of mollifying excesses (see the by no means conciliatory ending) earns the film yet more points.

 Francesco Troiano

What do we mean when we talk about love?

Children watch us, De Sica used to say. Now, they film us too: it's what young Chiara does with the videocamera given to her by her family for her first holy communion. Until then she had watched them, - all of them - noting their confusion, their disorientation, their unhappiness: she asked God to help them, only to withdraw her request in the end, deciding it was probably too much to ask, even of God.
It's through the inquisitive eyes of a child, therefore, that Cristina Comencini, in what is by far her best film yet, presents the characters of "Il più bel giorno della mia vita": the characters are the three children of an elderly lady- the first unhappily married, the second desperately lonely following the death of her husband, the third a closet homosexual struggling to hide his sexual identity- who return home occasionally for family lunches during which truth somehow never comes out.
In different ways, each of them bears the wounds of an upbringing founded on a kind of benevolent conformism and extreme attachment to traditional values: as a result, they feel helplessly out of place each time life forces them to make unorthodox choices or break with tradition.
Skilfull in describing the fluctuations of the heart, Comencini tones down potentially tragic notes in a sentimental comedy that is both lively and sharp: the dialogues are largely convincing and in no way affected, there's no lack of ironic underscoring, and the excellent acting lends even greater credibility. The secular rejection of mollifying excesses (see the by no means conciliatory ending) earns the film yet more points.

 Francesco Troiano