Days and clouds
Giorni e nuvole
2007 Romantic drama 116 mins
Italian with English subtitles
Intensely moving and superbly acted, Silvio Soldini’s latest film is the story of Elsa (Margherita Buy) and Michele (Antonio Albanese), a respectable, financially comfortable couple. They have a daughter, now twenty, and Elsa has just completed her degree in art history.
It is precisely at what seems a high point in her life that the bottom drops out of their world. Michele suddenly confesses that he has been out of a job for two months, having been dismissed by the very company he himself had created years before. And not only that: the very roof over their heads is up for sale and with their savings in the bank dwindling fast. Elsa of course is stunned. Shocked into action by the crisis she draws upon new energy to face the situation. Michele, on the other hand, is completely discouraged by his vain attempts to find another job and loses control, swinging from futile wild hopes to listless apathy. The abyss between Elsa and Michele grows greater and greater, bringing them to the verge of a break up, with the film leaving the question open as to whether their relationship can endure the hardships and changes. Only after tirelessly peeling away at the surface, as Elsa does with the frescoe she is uncovering, can we find the answer.
Days and Clouds is film about contemporary Italy, but also about a more widespread unease about job security and the difficulty of regaining one’s footing and position especially at a certain age. Most poignantly it is about the ways personal economic difficulties can impact on us as individuals and on the most important relationships in our lives.
Winner 2008 David Di Donatello: Best actress and best supporting actress.
“Soldini courageously treats a theme ‘so simple it is revolutionary’.” Il Giornale
“An absorbing, deliberate drama” Eddie Cockrell, Variety
Director: Silvio Soldini
Cast:Margherita Buy, Antonio Albanese, Giuseppe Battiston, Alba Caterina Rohrwacher.
Rating: M contains offensive language
