The film, which is directed by Matteo Garrone (The Embalmer), could do with a bit more plot: It doesn't resolve so much as collapse in utter desolation.
First Love(Primo amore)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Italy · 2004
1h 40m
Director Matteo Garrone
Starring Vitaliano Trevisan, Michela Cescon, Roberto Comacchio, Alberto Rey
Genre Drama, Romance
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Vittorio is looking for a woman who matches his ideal. Through a classified ad he meets Sonia, a sweet, pleasant, intelligent girl. However, she weighs 125 pounds -- which according to Vittorio is way too much. A goldsmith by trade, Vittorio is obsessed with the desire to shape Sonia's body and mind as does a fire with gold. Almost imperceptibly Sonia becomes a passive participant and the relationship grows into a reciprocal masochistic game. When the two lovers isolate themselves in a country house in the Veneto hills, they dangerously lose touch with reality and the rest of the world.
We hate to say it, but we can't find anywhere to view this film.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Probing the trust-based power games of a sadomasochistic dynamic, the movie is a reasonably thoughtful study of obsessive love.
New York Daily News by Jami Bernard
The movie exaggerates a common dynamic between men and women.
The atmosphere is once again black, creepy and unsettlingly elegant, lending this twisted tale of psychological dominance and submission a patina of anxiety and dread.
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
An elegantly told tale of obsession that, in failing to take on any larger meaning, rapidly becomes depressing to watch.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
All setup and no payoff.
Wonderfully quirky love story.
Users who liked this film also liked
The Last Kiss
(L'ultimo bacio)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2001
- Director Gabriele Muccino
- Cast Stefano Accorsi, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Stefania Sandrelli, Martina Stella, Claudio Santamaria, Giorgio Pasotti
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Moustache
(La Moustache)
A man shaves his mustache for the first time in 15 years, but after he does, no one remembers him ever having one.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2005
- Director Emmanuel Carrère
- Cast Vincent Lindon, Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric, Hippolyte Girardot, Cylia Malki, Macha Polikarpova
- Genre Thriller, Drama, Mystery
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, OVID, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Epidemic
Two screenwriters write a script about an epidemic, only to find themselves in a real epidemic developing around them.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Denmark • 1987
- Director Lars von Trier
- Cast Lars von Trier, Niels Vørsel, Claes Kastholm Hansen, Udo Kier, Svend Ali Hamann, Gitte Lind
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Horror
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel
The Embalmer
(L'imbalsamatore)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2002
- Director Matteo Garrone
- Cast Ernesto Mahieux, Valerio Foglia Manzillo, Elisabetta Rocchetti, Lina Bernardi, Pietro Biondi, Marcella Granito
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Mrs. Dalloway
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands • 1997
- Director Marleen Gorris
- Cast Vanessa Redgrave, Natascha McElhone, Michael Kitchen, Alan Cox, Sarah Badel, Lena Headey
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Freevee, Kanopy, Hoopla
Indian Summer
(La prima notte di quiete)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 1972
- Director Valerio Zurlini
- Cast Alain Delon, Sonia Petrovna, Giancarlo Giannini, Renato Salvatori, Alida Valli, Adalberto Maria Merli
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Ro.Go.Pa.G.
Gay beginnings of the end of the world
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 1963
- Director Jean-Luc Godard, Roberto Rossellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ugo Gregoretti
- Cast Rosanna Schiaffino, Bruce Balaban, Maria Pia Schiaffino, Jean-Marc Bory, Alexandra Stewart, Orson Welles
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Scent of the Night
(L'odore della notte)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1998
- Director Claudio Caligari
- Cast Valerio Mastandrea, Marco Giallini, Giorgio Tirabassi, Alessia Fugardi, Emanuel Bevilacqua, Francesca D'Aloja
- Genre Drama, Crime
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
The Last Man on Earth
(L'ultimo terrestre)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2011
- Director Gian Alfonso Pacinotti
- Cast Gabriele Spinelli, Anna Bellato, Teco Celio, Stefano Scherini, Roberto Herlitzka, Vincenzo Illiano
- Genre Drama, Science Fiction
- Available on Google Play Movies, YouTube
Reality
Reality TV..It's Really Real!
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 2012
- Director Matteo Garrone
- Cast Aniello Arena, Loredana Simioli, Nando Paone, Graziella Marina, Nello Iorio, Nunzia Schiano
- Genre Drama, Comedy
- Available on Kanopy, Fandor Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Hoopla, Plex, Reveel, Plex Channel
At War for Love
(In guerra per amore)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2016
- Director Pif
- Cast Pif, Miriam Leone, Andrea Di Stefano, Stella Egitto, David Mitchum Brown, Maurizio Marchetti
- Genre War, Drama, Comedy, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Lady Macbeth
The passionate affair of a young woman unleashes a maelstrom of murder and mayhem on a country estate.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2016
- Director William Oldroyd
- Cast Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis, Paul Hilton, Naomi Ackie, Christopher Fairbank, Golda Rosheuvel
- Genre Drama
- Available on Starz, Starz Roku Premium Channel, Starz Amazon Channel, Starz Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Kanopy
Capri-Revolution
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 2018
- Director Mario Martone
- Cast Marianna Fontana, Reinout Scholten van Aschat, Antonio Folletto, Gianluca Di Gennaro, Eduardo Scarpetta, Jenna Thiam
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Mafia Is Not What It Used to Be
(La Mafia non è più quella di una volta)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2019
- Director Franco Maresco
- Cast Franco Maresco, Letizia Battaglia, Ciccio Mira, Matteo Mannino, Cristian Miscel, Franco Zecchin
- Genre Documentary
- Available on No streaming locations found.