ALLAN HUNTER at the movies.

AN ICE COOL Italian thriller, ‘The Consequences Of Love’ has the kind of steely intelligence and dry humour so often missing from its American counterparts. Reserved and detached like its central character, it sustains a sense of mystery that becomes more and more intriguing as the plot is revealed.

It’s the kind of European success story that Hollywood might just remake, and therefore worth tracking down in its original incarnation.

A cross between Peter Sellers and Stanley Tucci, Toni Servillo stars as Titta. A middle-aged stockbroker, he has spent the past eight year as a guest in a Swiss hotel. He passes the time playing cards, taking heroin once a week, and watching the world go by.

Life and people seem to bore him. Each week, he also delivers a suitcase to a local bank which contains $100 million. His quiet, mundane routine begins to unravel when he takes a shine to the hotel barmaid Sofia (Olivia Magnani). It is a development that sets him free, but also dooms him to a tragic future.

One of the discoveries of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and the big winner at Italy’s equivalent of the Oscars, this is a film of great originality and poise. Writer-director Paolo Sorrentino manipulates events with all the stony-faced aplomb of a master poker player, and Servillo gives a very polished, poignant performance as Titta.
  
The ending is one of the most memorable you are likely to see this year, but don’t spoil anyone’s fun by revealing what happens.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF LOVE
National release, selected cinemas
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Stars: Toni Servillo, Olivia Magnani, Adriano Giannini, Antonio Ballerio.
Screenwriter: Paolo Sorrentino
Certificate: 15
Running time: 104 mins
Country: Italy
Year: 2004
 

© Allan Hunter, 2005