Between Strangers

A strong cast--Sophia Loren, Mira Sorvino, Deborah Kara Unger, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Gerard Depardieu, Malcolm McDowell, and Pete Postlethwaite--headlines this episodic soap opera, solemnly directed by Loren's son Edoardo Ponti, which centers on three women: Olivia (Loren), a housewife mourning the memory of the daughter she gave up for adoption decades ago; Natalia (Sorvino), a photojournalist tormented by thoughts of an Angolan child she encountered on a recent tour of duty; and Catherine (Unger), a cellist who's abandoned her husband and daughter to seek revenge against her ex-con father, whom she holds responsible for her mother's death. Tying all the stories together is a young girl who periodically appears, wraithlike, to accentuate the theme of maternal loss and longing; also turning up when the women are accidentally brought together at the close. Given the extraordinary talent in front of the camera, it's hardly surprising that there are moments of real poignancy here, but they're embedded in a ponderous narrative that is both curiously thin and pretentious. Optional. (F. Swietek)