BLISS RATING: ★★★
“An invisible thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, and circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle. But it will never break.” — Ancient Chinese Proverb
Regrettably, this movie is a hit and miss viewing experience. Mostly a miss, however. It only comes alive at the end. Touted as a drama comedy with LGBTQ overtones, it is light fluff with a story that seemingly appears to be based upon a true experience. While there are some depictions that are based upon actual events, the storyline is completely fictional.
The story is centered on an Italian high school student named Leone (Francesco Gheghi). He is a stunningly handsome teenage boy living in Rome with his two fathers, Paolo (Filippo Timi) and Simone (Francesco Scianna). Leone is a surrogate child of this gay couple. He was conceived by a combination of sperm from both and a female friend of theirs who agreed to be a surrogate host when they all lived in the United States. Her name is Tilly (Jodhi May) and she has maintained a warm and loving relationship with all three of them over the years. Affectionally, Leone calls her Dede. However, neither one is sure who the father actually is, as a DNA test to determine paternity has never been done.
Leone is straight and is well-adjusted even though his two fathers are a pair of high strung and high maintenance individuals. But over the years, their relationship has stalled and staled. To the point that Simone has been maintaining a liaison with another guy for two years. On the anniversary of their 20 years as a couple, Paolo finds out about the affair and pandemonium ensues. Simone leaves. All of it, however, is treated so cavalierly and seemingly inconsequentially, trying to make it funny. I found it all sad and a bit bittersweet.
This of course becomes overwhelming for Leone who by this time has established a love interest named Anna (Giulia Maenza). They are at the beginning of their budding relationship.
Where this movie falls apart is its lack of depth and seeing life so episodically. It simply goes from one scenario to another without any connections which is so ironic given the title of this movie. We really do not see, feel, or sense these characters until the end where there is a bit of an in-depth scene in the hospital after Leone is injured. It is only then that we find out who the real father is. (I shall leave that as the surprise).
There is no time to feel these characters and only at the end do they seem like real people. If there is a statement or purpose to this movie, it simply escaped me. That does not mean it is not enjoyable; in places, it is. But it certainly is not memorable in any way. It is so full of trite setups and overworn clichés about gay people and gay relationships, that whatever genuine humor is in it, is so minimal that you are likely to miss it.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this movie? Truthfully, there are no real standouts here. The acting is ‘good’. Solid in places but less than memorable. They all felt too contrived to me and overdone at times. I only saw characters. I could not feel any connection to them.
It is the plot’s contrivance that drove this movie into the ground. If its aim was to show that gay relationships can end up just like other (straight) relationships, then it reasonably succeeded. But if they wanted to show the uniqueness of a long-term gay relationship failing, it did not. If they had explored the realities of what made this apparently loving relationship get stale, that would have added dimension. Maybe if the two were not presented so stereotypically gay and therefore superficial, that might also have helped make them more relatable. And conceivably if we could have seen in depth Leone being scared or frightened of the outcome of not only who is father is, but also the demise of his fathers’ relationship, perhaps that would have made it more impactful. It is hard to make a quasi-comedy out of a subject matter with such serious themes without a lot of finesse.
Otherwise, it just looks like another Hollywood feigned movie. And for me, this was just another tinsel-town movie that kind of left you feeling empty, certainly not amused, and feeling like I missed being entertained.
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