First, I have not read the bestselling book by Margaret Mazzantilo on which the movie is based. As of what I heard by people who read it and saw the film, book beats the movie by far. The story is about an adulterous surgeon unsatisfied with his marriage and triteness of his upper class life that encounters love in a strange form of a simple, unattractive woman named Italia. What starts as a very weird form of purely sexual, let's call it, relationship ( including rape ) turns into something more and ends up as true, tragic love. It's also a story of guilt, redemption, and finding ones' place in life. The better side of this movie is definitely the acting. Penelope Cruz gives her best performance since her legendary collaborations with Pedro Almodovar. Too often stuck in a Hollywood trash, I was afraid Cruz lost her touch, but with Non Ti Muovere she's back with a vengeance. The roles of women on the margin of society suit her perfectly and again she reminds us that she's not just a pretty girl trying to make it big in America with her looks. The director and lead role Sergio Catellito ( Mazzantilo's husband in real life ) is excellent as well, but a notch below Cruz who steals the spotlight with her brilliant acting. Well known Italian actress Claudia Gerini in a role of surgeon Timoteo's difficult wife does the best with her limited on-screen time. My problem with Non Ti muovere is a complete lack of any sort of identification with the characters. All of them live their unfulfilled lives immersed in adultery, shopping sprees and luxurious parties but without finding the happiness they all long for. Sure, we see similar people every day on the street but they just don't have any internal qualities that we should commiserate for and therefore enter and leave our lives as pure strangers. The only character with a palpable soul is Italia but then again we don't get to know her as well as we should. Her troubled life and past is mentioned at few places but doesn't give any wider insight into her miserable existence. Castellito manages not to pass the feeling of contempt for doctor Timoteo to the audience but doesn't do much more than that either. His feelings are buried deep inside for the most of the movie and so even when he tries to be emotional it just doesn't leave an impression of being real. I have to be honest and admit that at times I felt I should've sympathized with one of the characters I couldn't go for more than neutrality. In a film like this one the audience has to feel the power of emotion to become a part of the movie and in that segment Castellito fails gravely, at least IMHO. However, I cannot do else but recommend it...if for nothing else then for Penelope Cruz. Her performance intrigued me so much that I'm on my way to a bookstore and this time I'm looking for a real, not tamed emotions.
Review of Don't Move
