Frequent readers know I go into most screenings as blind as possible, which can lead to very interesting results, but usually allows me to view a film without placing any expectations on it. Now sometimes, expectations get placed on a film by the simple fact of the recognizable title company cards at the top of a film. If it’s one of the major studios’ titles, I know it’s usually a film that has commercial appeal. If it’s a Neon film, I know it will probably appeal to my tastes, A24 will probably make me cry, and Focus Features will probably be well-crafted and may do both of the previously mentioned items. L’ultima notte di Amore from writer/director Andrea Di Stefano began with the Universal credits, followed by the Focus Features one. Fitting for a crime thriller.
As soon as the main credits began, over areal shots sweeping over the city of Milan, there was the sound of heavy breathing. It started as one person, but they were soon joined by others in a weird breathy, guttural, Gregorian chant… then instrumentation joined, first with drums then an organ-like sound that morphs into a harpsichord/spinet type sound. After seeing the film, I’m not sure how well the music fits the overall tone of the film itself, but I was drawn into the world by it, so it was very effective at snaking me through Milan until it guided me into the apartment of Franco Amore (played by Pierfrancesco Favino) where his wife Viviana (played by Linda Caridi) is throwing him a surprise party. The music cuts out almost the same way it entered.
You don’t realize it at the time, but the film starts you in the middle. It is only after Franco arrives at a crime scene, getting called away shortly after he arrived at his party, do we realize we’ll get new context for the opening scenes once we get back to them. After going through the, “how did we get to this crime scene?” scenes.
Franco is a police officer, one about to retire, who has never risen above Sergeant. Through his wife’s cousin Cosimo (played by Antonio Gerardi), who does more than skirt what is legal as a wheeler and dealer, Franco finds himself in a position to make some quick cash as a driver for a wealthy businessman, clearly smuggling something into Milan off the books. He ropes in his partner, and as you’d expect when the promise is easy money for little work (3x his monthly salary for 1 hour of work), it all goes wrong.
When trying to escape the crime scene, Franco wipes down the wheel, but he touches the window and other things with his hands directly after. It’s unclear whether this results from his frayed mental state, knowing what he needs to do to cover up his party to the crime but unable to do it effectively because he is in shock, or whether this is just an error made in the course of filming. It is not a thread that gets pulled as the film takes place in a compressed time frame, so even if he were to get brought in for being in the car, it would happen in the aftermath of the film’s story.
The final confrontation speech is good. Whether Franco is a good man or not is left to interpretation. He definitely has a set of morals and lines that he will and won’t cross and places he will go when pushed.
L’ultima notte di Amore premiered at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in the Berlinale Special Gala, it will be released in cinemas on March 9th.
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