Director: Ferzan Özpetek

Star: Luisa Ranieri, Jasmine Trinca, Stefano Accorsi, Loredana Cannata

This Italian comedy period melodrama sparkles occasionally but ultimately feels ersatz. Drawn from his memories of working as an assistant director and dealing with costume ateliers, Özpetek’s film is a celebration of Italian women, their strength and solidarity. It is the late 1970s and Alberta (Ranieri) and Gabriella (Trinca) are sisters running a costuming company. Alberta is spiky and severe, Gabriella more amenable. The plot charts the various seamstress employees’ lives and soap opera issues - abusive husbands, depressed and errant children and returning lost loves - as the company bids for a contract with an Oscar-winning designer. The grainy 1970s cigarette fug is nicely evoked by cinematographer Gian Filippo Corticelli, while Stefano Ciammittiz’s costumes are gorgeous, Alberta’s tailored suits in particular are a marvel. While well played by its ensemble cast, this celebration of female fortitude is undone by a self-regarding and self-defeating present day framing device in which the director celebrates ‘his’ actresses, while the script’s constant insistence on the magic of cinema is wearying.

David Willoughby

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