02/04/2015 - Directed by Michele Placido, the two actors play a couple faced with a dramatic dilemma. Also in theatres this week is Marco Pontecorvo’s film starring John Turturro

Raoul Bova and Ambra Angiolini in The Choice

On the one side we have a man in the midst of a moral crisis; on the other, a woman who desperately wants to become a mother. What do you do when the foetus growing inside you was conceived in rape? Facing this dilemma are Ambra Angiolini and Raoul Bova, who play husband and wife in Michele Placido’s new film, The Choice [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which hits screens today. The latest labour of love from the director of Romanzo criminale [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michele Placido
film profile] and The Lookout [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] is inspired by The Grafting [L’innesto] by Luigi Pirandello, a piece of theatre which created quite a stir in its day (in 1919), dividing audiences and critics. “It’s a very topical text, for me Pirandello is the most extraordinary figure in Italian theatre,” says Placido, who is planning to dedicate a biopic starring Sergio Castellitto to this great Sicilian playwright. In this melodrama, chosen to compete at the Beijing International Film Festival later this month, we see Angiolini and Bova in unusually dramatic roles: “I entrusted this story to two well-known actors so that the film wouldn’t become too niche," explains the director, “two actors who have successfully navigated various genres of film but who, despite being celebrities, are a good example of a normal couple you can identify with.” He concludes: “It’s a universal story which tells us that at the end of the day, it’s always the woman who decides that life must go on.” Released today and distributed in 230 theatres by Lucky Red.

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Another Italian film that was released this week is Tempo instabile con probabili schiarite [+see also:
trailer
interview: Marco Pontecorvo
film profile] by Marco Pontecorvo with Luca Zingaretti, John Turturro and Carolina Crescentini. The film, which recently opened the Bif&st in Bari (see interview), is being distributed in 90 cinemas by Good Films. Also in theatres are two Italian debut films: I Wanna Be the Testimonial [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by and starring Dado Martino in the role of Davide, a hypochondriac who is terrified of saying the words ‘I love you’ (A&A Distribuzioni), and Soldato semplice [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by and starring Paolo Cevoli, who plays a soldier sent to the front line during the First World War in an isolated part of the Valtellina, where he finds himself living alongside soldiers from all over Italy (distributed by Koch Media).   

The only non-Italian European film to be released today was Susanne Bier’s Danish drama A Second Chance [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], distributed in 40 theatres by Teodora. The rest are all American films: Fast & Furious 7 (Universal, 770 screens), Into the Woods with Meryl Streep (Disney, 275 theatres), Third Person by Paul Haggis (M2, 170 screens) and road movie Wild (Fox, 100 theatres) starring Oscar-nominated actresses Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern.

(Translated from Italian)