by Xavier Toby in New Film on Tuesday 29 March 2011

The plot of this Italian film might not be riveting, but the characters are lovely personal portraits, and every scene is produced with such care that the entire film feels to have been painstakingly painted. It’s a film with an individual, meandering pace, where the viewer is kept on the edge of these lives, and drawn into them for the lack of explanation.

The visuals are what does it, though, and all the clothing is exquisite, while the scenery, ranging of some of Italy’s finest churches to cityscapes and then the countryside, is shot with real tenderness. The depiction of food and its preparation borders on the pornographic, as do a few of the scenes starring a very naked Tilda Swinton.