Le Conseguenze dell’Amore (The Consequences of Love)

As we all know falling in love always has consequences and became careless enough to provoke your own death is just one of them. This movie deals with this matter in a unique way as actually the movie is about mobsters.

But do not expect a Hollywood depiction of the mob, this is one of the finest mob movies I have ever seen as is Italian style with fantastic filmmaking and an extremely slow pace that introduces an almost 50 years old unpleasant character that very slowly starts to melt in front of you as he falls for a beautiful barmaid Sofia, nicely played by Olivia Magnani (grand-daughter of Anna Magnani). Also, as he melts you will start to very slowly learn his story.

Most of the movie is indoors in a elegant but plain and orderly Switzerland hotel with many scenes giving you a sense of asphyxia and you feel like you’re about to suffocate by the tediousness of the main character everyday life, that’s it until things start to slowly change.

Great performance by Toni Servillo that plays Titta di Girolamo, the main character that is in all the scenes, and the one that transforms itself from the arrogant unpleasant character into a man in need, a man in love and a man destined to die. His performance is based totally in expressions that will make you feel as if it is happening to you.

I really like French cinema and enjoy the extremely slow pace most good French movies have, but this Italian movie by Paolo Sorretino has the slowest pace I have ever endure with total pleasure, unbelievable how a story and the camera can be so slowly moved and keep your attention at all times.

The movie has 8 wins and 13 nominations in European awards and festivals including a nomination for the Palm D’Or at 2004 Cannes.

Absolutely not for all audiences, much less for those that like action packed mobster movies; this is an art house movie with the slowest pace you can imagine. Then I feel that this is a movie that you will like a lot or you will not like at all.