Le Fate Ignoranti Details

The theme of clashing cultures recurs throughout director Ferzan Ozpetek's work, but here the Turkish-born film-maker shifts the emphasis from ethnic to sexual matters with a tale of grief, shock and acceptance set in Rome's Ostiense district. When medical worker Margherita Buy is widowed, she sets out to find the woman she suspects of having been her husband's mistress, but is confronted with Stefano Accorsi, a younger man with whom her husband had a long-term affair. A intriguing premise, but their changing relationship is soon strewn with contrived twists and facile resolutions, while the tension that existed in their early meetings dissipates into a cosiness that sees Buy become part of Accorsi's eccentric coterie. This is well-meaning and earnestly played, but also melodramatic and improbable.

Affectionate account of Rome's diverse and exuberant culture, coupled with a woman's struggle through grief to independence.