Estranged from his family, a cynical widower grows close to his new neighbours in Gianni Amelio’s beautifully shot drama Tenderness, featuring festival ambassador Greta Scacchi (Looking for Alibrandi). Loosely based on Lorenzo Moreno’s award-winning novel The Temptation to Be Happy, this moving drama sees two domestic tragedies fold into one.
In post-WWII Naples, retired lawyer and proud native Bentivoglio (an award-winning performance by Renato Carpentieri) lives alone in a palazzo, at arm’s length from his adult children. The old man grows close to Elena (Micaela Ramazzotti, Like Crazy LIFF16), a new neighbour from the North, and befriends her husband, Fabio (Elio Germani, Suburra), as well. When a deadly blow sweeps both households away, Bentivoglio's daughter reaches out in the midst of the devastation, offering him a way back home to his family.
An acclaimed filmmaker, Amelio won the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes Film Festival with The Stolen Children (1992), and was Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language feature with Open Doors (1990). With Tenderness, Amelio is at his best as he returns to relationship dramas.
