The First Beautiful Thing

Filmmaker Paulo Virzi's The First Beautiful Thing was nominated for an astonishing 18 David di Donatello Awards (the Italian equivalent of the Oscar) and presented as Italy's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Valerio Mastandrea stars as Bruno, a pot-smoking college professor long estranged from his volatile family. Bruno's sister Valeria (Claudia Pandolfi) abruptly appears one day and forces him to visit their mother, Anna (Stefania Sandrelli), who is dying from terminal cancer. The narrative switches between Bruno's tumultuous childhood—plunged into chaos after his violent father reacts in a jealous rage when his mother wins a cheesy local beauty contest—and the shambles of his adult existence. Although it sometimes feels like it might veer into soggy melodrama or poor-taste humor, the film offers a mature and intelligent dissection of the circumstances that drove Bruno away from his family and into a self-destructive existence. Mastandrea himself delivers a marvelous performance of great emotional depth and wit, and the scenes involving Bruno's reunion with his dying mother are wonderfully unpredictable on multiple levels. Recommended. (P. Hall)