Presented in a premiere in BIF&ST and hitting Italian cinemas on 26 March via Vision Distribution, Love Divine by Francesco Lagi is a study of loving relationships taking the form of an enchanting and circular sentimental comedy which is unlike any other sentimental comedy produced in Italy in recent years. It’s closer in kind to one of those unmatched French comedies revolving around existential crises, misunderstandings and romantic entanglements and inevitably starring Vincent Macaigne. But the film from which Francesco Lagi has doubtless drawn inspiration, updating (without explicitly saying so) and sugar-coating it for the third millennium, is Max Ophüls’ masterpiece La Ronde (based on a play of the same name by Arthur Schnitzler, who was branded a pornographer), which won a screenplay award at the Venice Film Festival in 1950.

In Ophüls’ film – remade by Roger Vadim in 1964 – there’s a narrator, or rather a master of ceremonies, who tells the audience they’ll be witnessing different examples “of the infinite waltz of love”. But Lagi entrusts this role to the author of great elegiac works of erotica, Roman poet Ovid, which lends the subject-matter a refined mythological air. In fact, at the beginning of the film we see the Augustan man of letters (Francesco Colella) strolling through the Forum in modern-day Rome, in a white linen suit, explaining to viewers that “love never stops, it runs through all of us”. Ovid tells us that the god of love, Cupid (or Eros for the Greeks), was born out of Venus betraying her husband, Vulcan, with Mars.

These betrayals come thick and fast in Love Divine. It’s impossible to describe the many connections and relations between the eight protagonists, which all come full circle in the end. Suffice to say that crime reporter Ada (Isabella Aragonese) realises she’s pregnant, but not by her husband Filippo (Vinicio Marchioni), who teaches art at the academy and is loved by young student Silvia (Chiara Ferrara), who will also feel herself attracted to cardiac surgeon Arianna (Anna Bellato), who, after 16 years of cohabiting and a daughter in common, feels she no longer loves psychoanalyst Ester (Vanessa Scalera), whose patient, bus driver Jacopo (Enrico Borello), has a very confused mind and is still stalking his ex, Arianna (Benedetta Cimatti), a primary school teacher, who’s now seeing Pietro (Corrado Fortuna) who plays in the Roman Opera orchestra and who’s a former classmate of the previously mentioned Ada, who he’s occasionally slept with and which brings us full circle.

We don’t know whether these characters are prey to the whims of a volatile and malicious god or simply the victims of their own neuroses, insecurities, and erotic and emotional impulses, but the film is wonderfully acted by all, thanks to direction by Lagi who endeavours to divide equal time and resources between all of his actors in order to breathe life into an ensemble cast which is ultimately the heart and soul of the film. Between lies, longed-for kisses, embraces, meet-ups in the dark via dating apps and painful sentimental losses, the screenplay co-written by Enrico Audenino and the director leaves room for moments of hilarity which lend perfect balance to the romanticism. We see the misadventures of the female student who falls victim to a caring scammer from Florence, and there’s the gag involving the analyst-patient couple played by Vanessa Scalera and Enrico Borello. We’re only too happy to lose ourselves in the various links in this story’s chain, even if the film - which is over two hours long – would definitely have benefitted from fewer scenes. Overall, Love Divine traces an enticing perimeter around the feeling of love, also encompassing disappointments and vexations, without the tragic, cynicism-tinged tone hiding under a veil of frivolity which made Ophüls’ work immortal.

Love Divine was produced by Cattleya, BartlebyFilm and Vision Distribution in collaboration with Sky.  Vision Distribution are handling world sales.