This wonderful Italian film, La Finestra di Fronte, celebrates the relationships we live and the choices that define who we are.
Giovanna Mezzogiorno plays a woman who feels the pressures of her job and the the frustrations of being a wife and mother. She is anxious about her husband's lack of direction. She looks out her kitchen window and into the apartment of a handsome banker. Giovanna longs for a life that she believes is just out of reach.
One evening Giovanna and her softhearted husband, Filippo, discover an elderly gentleman (Simone) lost on the streets of Rome. He does not speak, he cannot tell them who he is or where he lives. They take him home so that Filippo can take the man to the police the next day. Soon Simone is living in their home.
Each day Giovanna is determined to that Simone will leave, but she soon develops a special relationship with the elderly gentleman. Through her care for Simone, Giovanna meets her neighbor. The neighbors bond and she finds the world that she longed for opened up to her.
Simone's story is told in flashbacks. It is the story of the Holocaust, doomed lovers, and murder. The story of Simone's life leads Giovanna into a deeper discovery of herself.
This beautiful movie is about passion for what we do and who we love. "Don't be content to merely survive," is the message. This is a subtle movie that will leave you feeling hopeful. This isn't a saccharine, every thing's going to be perfect hope, but one that acknowledges that we must all make choices, every day.
