Il Padre D’Italia [There is a Light] *** (2017, Luca Marinelli, Isabella Ragonese) – Classic Movie Review 12,490

Il padre d’Italia (2017) with Luca Marinelli e Isabella Ragonese.

Luca Marinelli stars  in the 2017 Italian drama film Il Padre D’Italia [There is a Light] as Paolo, a sad gay Turin shop clerk, who rescues quirky sixth-month pregnant Mia (Isabella Ragonese) when she collapses in a gay club. They set off to find the dad. 

Luca Marinelli stars  in the 2017 Italian drama film Il Padre D’Italia [There is a Light] as Paolo, a sad and introverted young gay Turin shop clerk, who looks after unconventional sixth-month pregnant woman Mia (Isabella Ragonese) when she collapses in a gay club. The two go on a journey ever south through Italy, looking for her home, her relatives, and the father of Mia’s unborn daughter.

Il Padre D’Italia turns out to be unexpectedly rewarding and entertaining, despite the woman’s infuriating personality. Why on Earth did the gay guy bother with her? it seems he was dumped and desperate, needy and just so very nice.

Actually, of course, she is mother, a substitute mother for the gay guy, who was abandoned by his and dumped in an orphanage till he was 18, with no one interested in adopting him. Despite Paolo’s obvious attractions, no one seems to have ever loved him, and he’s just in the process of having been dumped by his selfish, obnoxious long-term boyfriend.

By the way, Italia is a little girl’s name, but who is the father? Not the gay guy, obviously, because he came on the scene after the mother was present. Or is he? Could he be? Infuriating the woman might be, but she seems to know quite a lot and be very canny. She’s certainly got him sussed, but is she actually only using him. Probably. She’s  got mother issues too by the way. They get to meet her mother and she’s chilly.

The film is quirky and freewheeling and fun, as well as fast moving over its 92 minutes, and town hopping, starting in Turin, going to Asti, Rome and Naples, and ending up in Calabria, so it is also flavourful and atmospheric. There’s time to get to like the characters, and maybe fall in love with them a bit. But the story is all about abandonment, and any chance of recovery from that. Paolo would deserve his recovery and Il Padre D’Italia of course puts him on the road to it. It is a positive, upbeat movie then. So that’s nice!

‘There Is a Light That Never Goes Out’ is written by Johnny Marr and Morrissey.

It was released on 9 March 2017 in Italy.

The cast are Luca Marinelli as Paolo, Isabella Ragonese as Mia, Mario Sgueglia: Mario, Anna Ferruzzo: Nunzia, Federica De Cola: assistente sociale, Miriam Karlkvist: Lucia, Esther Elisha: Assunta, Sara Putignano: Mamma di Paolo, Filippo Gattuso: Valerio, and Franca Maresa: suora.

Luca Marinelli (born 22 October 1984) is best known for Every Blessed Day (2012), The Great Beauty (2013), Don’t Be Bad (2015), They Call Me Jeeg (2016), Il padre d’Italia (2017), Martin Eden (2019), The Old Guard (2020), Diabolik (2021) and The Eight Mountains (2022).

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,490

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