L2 2

As a gay man with a degree in literary studies and Ancient History, you'd think this would be my film - far from it. Beautiful shots of a summer in 1970s Italy, but the story: pedestrian, with unlikeable characters who never develop a full personality or life of their own beyond pronouncing pseudo-intellectual truisms, and at times (the father's monologue!) utterly cringeworthy and wooden. The film takes itself far too seriously to be enjoyable, it lacks any humour and ultimately (surprising really given the plot) emotional depth. I'm frankly unsure where all the good reviews come from - the only other gay man I've ever spoken about the film with told me that his gay reading group had read the book, which they'd all agreed was "even worse" as "without the pretty pictures, you notice even more how poor the dialogues are".