Was will ich mehr (2010)

Was will ich mehr: Directed by Silvio Soldini. With Alba Rohrwacher, Pierfrancesco Favino, Teresa Saponangelo, Giuseppe Battiston. One day at a colleague’s going away party, Anna meets Domenico, a virile, slightly older chap who’s married with two small kids. Passion’s flames are rapidly kindled and result in steamy encounters.

“Cosa voglio di più, English title u0026#39;Come Undoneu0026#39;, is essentially the story of an affair. It provides little context or psychological examination of its characters, makes no moral judgement and offers little in the way of justification for their actions. The Italian title (translated literally as u0026#39;What more do I wantu0026#39;) gives more emphasis to the idea of the film literally being about just wanting something more.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere doesnu0026#39;t seem to be any particularly deep want in Anna. Her sister might have just had a baby, but she doesnu0026#39;t really seem to be ready to have one with husband/boyfriend, Alessio. The relationship between them is easy-going and stable, even if there is no real passion there. Heu0026#39;s a handyman, watches the pennies carefully; she works in administration for an insurance company. If their love life is unexciting, thereu0026#39;s no conflict there either, certainly nothing that suggests that sheu0026#39;s ready for an affair.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThereu0026#39;s no doubt however that she is interested in Domenico/Mimmo, a cater who turns up for one of their work functions. Anna suggests coffee, they finally manage a meeting, and eventually end up at a motel for sex. It soon becomes a regular affair, but finding the time to be together is increasingly difficult. Mimmo has a wife and two children and has to steal an hour or two while he is supposed to be at the pool swimming. Anna, plays the old working late at the office line. Thereu0026#39;s only so long before suspicions are aroused in their partners, but Anna is impatient.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAll Cosa voglio di più seems to be saying is that we all need a little bit of excitement outside the mundane practicalities of life. For all the passions that are raised, itu0026#39;s curiously detached, lacking the more gentle charm of a similar theme in Soldiniu0026#39;s Bread and Tulips. For most films it would be the passionate affair and the exploration of deep emotional needs that would be the focus of the story, but Soldini intentionally seems to give more attention to the little banalities that have to be taken into consideration, taking time over Anna looking through brands of facewipes while she takes a call from Mimmo, or Mimmo mentally balancing the cost of paying for a motel room against the urgent needs of his children. Itu0026#39;s refreshingly more honest about the realities of affairs, but that perhaps doesnu0026#39;t make for the most exciting drama.”