A large part of the film was shot in the Ostiense neighbourhood so beloved by director Ferzan Özpetek who lives here. In the opening sequence, Antonia (Margherita Buy) pretends to be meeting a stranger, actually her husband Massimo (Andrea Renzi): they are admiring the approx. 400 Roman statues on display in the Museum of Centrale Montemartini, once a thermo-electricity power station, in via Ostiense 106, Rome.
Following Massimo’s sudden death, Antonia tries to find out more about her husband’s double life and goes in search of Michele’s house (Stefano Accorsi), believing she will meet his mistress. She drives away from Porta San Paolo and the Cestia Pyramid, before ringing the intercom of a strange building in via del Porto Fluviale 35: this street number, today, accesses the Industrie Fluviali cultural centre which includes the famous terrace with view of the gazometro used for dinners and lunches by Massimo’s second “family”. The gazometro, an example of industrial archaeology that the film has contributed to making famous, is always present in outdoor scenes.
After some initial conflict, Antonia ends up replacing her husband in the group of friends and starts taking care of Ernesto, the sick friend who lives in Michele’s house: when he runs away, she tracks him down to the Ostiense bank of the river Tiber near the ponte dell’Industria bridge. Almost as if celebrating the birth of a friendship, Michele and Antonia eat ice cream sitting on a bench in viale della Piramide Cestia. The departure scene was shot at Fiumicino airport.
A large part of the film was shot in the Ostiense neighbourhood so beloved by director Ferzan Özpetek who lives here. In the opening sequence, Antonia (Margherita Buy) pretends to be meeting a stranger, actually her husband Massimo (Andrea Renzi): they are admiring the approx. 400 Roman statues on display in the Museum of Centrale Montemartini, once a thermo-electricity power station, in via Ostiense 106, Rome.
Following Massimo’s sudden death, Antonia tries to find out more about her husband’s double life and goes in search of Michele’s house (Stefano Accorsi), believing she will meet his mistress. She drives away from Porta San Paolo and the Cestia Pyramid, before ringing the intercom of a strange building in via del Porto Fluviale 35: this street number, today, accesses the Industrie Fluviali cultural centre which includes the famous terrace with view of the gazometro used for dinners and lunches by Massimo’s second “family”. The gazometro, an example of industrial archaeology that the film has contributed to making famous, is always present in outdoor scenes.
After some initial conflict, Antonia ends up replacing her husband in the group of friends and starts taking care of Ernesto, the sick friend who lives in Michele’s house: when he runs away, she tracks him down to the Ostiense bank of the river Tiber near the ponte dell’Industria bridge. Almost as if celebrating the birth of a friendship, Michele and Antonia eat ice cream sitting on a bench in viale della Piramide Cestia. The departure scene was shot at Fiumicino airport.
R&C Produzioni, Les Films Balenciaga (Paris)
Married for over a decade, Antonia and Massimo are a happy couple and a closed family. Following Massimo’s sudden death, Antonia falls into deep grief until she meets Michele, Massimo’s lover of seven years, and his extended, open-minded “family” of friends.
