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Pupi Avati’s latest is a charming story of unrequited love set in Italy in the early 1920s. Shy, inexperienced, 35-year-old Nello (Neri Marcoré) is sent from Rome by his father (who is personal tailor to the pope) to teach Latin and Greek in Bologna and to find a wife. At first bumbling in the classroom, Nello quickly charms his students with his humor and his candor. He learns the basics about women from his pensione roommate, Cesare (Giancarlo Giannini), a lusty barber, but his life changes completely after a chance meeting with Angela (Vanessa Incontrada). Blinded in a train accident, Angela is a gorgeous socialite eager to take revenge on the fiancé who jilted her, and smitten Nello is more than happy to be her doormat. Of course, a tender connection develops as Angela decides to accept the kindness she barely deserves. The deadpan delivery of the actors lights up a mildly funny script, and fine-tuned details conjure the period. Marcoré is a wonder, with a face like a simple-minded Joe Mantegna, revealing his depth of passion and sadness in the slightest movement of his eyes or mouth. In Italian with English subtitles. (107 minutes)
BY PEG ALOI
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