Cosa voglio di più (2010)

Directed by: Silvio Soldini | 126 minutes | drama | Actors: Alba Rohrwacher, Pierfrancesco Favino, Teresa Saponangelo, Giuseppe Battiston, Fabio Troiano, Monica Nappo, Tatiana Lepore, Sergio Solli, Gisella Burinato, Gigio Alberti, Francesca Capelli, Danilo Finoli, Martina De Santis, Leonardo Nigro, Adriana De Guilmi, Raffa Onesti, Clelia Piscitello, Antonino Bruschetta, Carla Chiarelli, Bindu De Stoppani, Claudia Coli, Ditta Teresa Acerbis, Paolo Riva, Michele Di Giacomo, Elisabetta Piccolomini, Edwin Rojas Condor, Hassan Azougagh, Rocco Ozzimo, Stefania Casiraghi, Adriano Poteniza, Sebastiano Moise, Pietro Romano, Nicoletta Maragnoc

Coincidence or not? In 2010, two experienced Italian directors come up with a film about adultery. Although the films deal with the same subject, they are polar opposites in almost every way. ‘Io sono l’amore’ (Bellocchio) is a theatrical, exuberantly stylized melodrama about adultery in higher circles. ‘Cosa voglio di piú’ (Soldini) is a subdued realistic drama about adultery in the lower middle class. What the movies share other than the subject is the high quality.

In ‘Cosa voglio di piú’ this quality is in the successful elaboration of a well-worn subject. The focus is not so much on the passion of an inflamed couple, but on the loneliness of the adulteress. There are relatively few scenes where cheaters Anna and Domenico are together, and in those scenes there is only wordless, steaming sex. For most of the film we see Anna and Domenico in their own environment. The secret of adultery has isolated them from family, friends and colleagues, and that loneliness is only broken by the weekly hour of motel sex.

Also successful is the lack of drama. As in predecessor ‘Giorni e Nuvole’, director Soldini shows that drama is a human quality rather than a sequence of events. There are tears, there is swearing and swearing, but everything is within reason. Dramatic music and theatrical acting are therefore omitted.

With subtle play, Alba Rohrwacher and Pierfrancesco Favino turn their characters into deeply human characters, each with its own weaknesses, quirks, fears and dreams. The reasons for the adultery are explainable: Domenico is under the thumbs of his wife and mistress, Anna faces a life-changing decision. Because our cheaters are so lifelike, it takes no effort at all to empathize with them. That real life applies to all characters, from Anna’s chain-smoking aunt to Domenico’s pragmatic father-in-law.

The attractive photography, some nice jokes and strong dialogue complete the praise of this drama. Without lifting a finger, Soldini convinces with this sketch of an age-old problem. A problem for which there is only one solution: think before you start. Which of course does not apply to a visit to this film.