Sophia Loren’s expressive eyes are one of cinema’s greatest treasures, and in her first feature in a decade the icon’s gaze swiftly reclaims our attention as if she’d never been absent. “The Life Ahead,” an Italian-language drama directed by the actress’ son Edoardo Ponti (“Between Strangers”), provides an oft-moving, mostly proficient canvas for her to return in resplendent fashion.
Ponti and co-writer Ugo Chiti transplant Romain Gary’s 1975 French novel “The Life Before Us” to the tumultuous present in seaside Italy. Not surprisingly, the essential conflicts around marginalization remain relevant. Yet, in adapting the text, the duo laden the plot with today’s most pressing and contentious issues—some more forcefully included than others. Undocumented immigration, transgender discrimination, and the need for religious tolerance are all packaged in the sun-drenched tale of an improbable friendship.
No-nonsense Holocaust survivor, Madame Rosa (Loren) has made a living caring for the children of working prostitutes. Weathered but still vivacious, she commands an earned respect. But when the resilient woman agrees to take in Momo (first-time actor Ibrahima Gueye), a 12-year-old orphan from Senegal, at the request of an old doctor friend, her authority is challenged. The young man doesn’t take kindly to this imposed relocation and the rules under the octogenarian’s roof.
Without parental supervision, Momo has carved his own hardscrabble path in petty crime and drug dealing. The apparent stability of Madame Rosa’s home allows for those activities to continue with less suspicion from the authorities. Despite his age and inexperience, Gueye, an acting revelation, matches Loren’s on-screen potency in their characters’ recurrent heated tête-à-têtes. The formulaic narrative arc follows their relationship from foes to dears as they each acknowledge the wrenches destiny threw in the other’s personal history. With her health declining, Madame Rosa eventually makes a pact with Momo that gives the story higher stakes.
By virtue of the co-stars’ intense performance, first drawing on anger and then genuine care, the co-stars nonetheless maintain one’s interest. As Madame Rosa, Loren beams with stern grace, even in moments of intimate devastation the camera renders immaculate. In her silence, immense pain is conveyed. Staring into the distance, or more precisely into her buried trauma, Loren’s Madame Rosa says the bare minimum but feels plenty. In a gloomy, quiet scene with a saddened Momo, after the departure of another kid in her care, she offers a few words of encouragement and the caress of her hand, which feel momentous.
A production fit for the legend’s stature and storied career, where Loren’s screen time is maximized for impact, “The Life Ahead” still leaves us eager to learn more about Madame Rosa, not only her tragedies but her joys as well. The movie spoils the audience with the restraint of Loren’s interpretation of a burdened fighter, but then bypasses defter character development that could have exalted it further. On the plus side, it finally saved us from having “Nine” as our most recent film memory of her.
Throughout, Ponti, the skilled director working with his mother again, diverts his focus to the supporting characters who bring up other latent subjects, but also crowd the plot. There’s Spanish trans woman Lola (Abril Zamora), desperate for her father’s acceptance, and a kindhearted Muslim storeowner trying to mentor Momo. Their contributions to the overall work lack lasting significance, however, Lola’s appearance do help drive it forward and make for some of the most ethereal instances cinematographer Angus Hudson shoots (e.g. Lola and Madame Rosa dancing). Magical realism in the form of an imposing lioness, a symbolic maternal presence that the boy summons to cope, and triumphantly obvious musical cues, express Momo’s interior life with varying degrees of effectiveness.
Not as cloy or manipulative as it could have easily turned out, mainly because Madame Rosa is far from an angelical savior but rather a woman with baggage of her own, “The Life Ahead” just threads the waters of the world’s injustices without much intention to submerge us in them. Its valid, though wholly commonplace thesis proclaims that as humans, no matter where we come from or what we’ve done to survive, we are all worthy of compassion rather than the judgment of our character based on our past. Catch Diane Warren’s memorable Italian power ballad, “Io sì (Seen),” performed by famed singer Laura Pausini, in the credits for a reminder of this message.
Fundamentally, “The Life Ahead” is the type of pleasant, emotional crowd-pleaser that casual viewers might find just adventurous enough with regards to the societal ills it addresses to feel like they’ve learned something of value. For those seeking a shrewder treatment, it’ll resonate as perfectly acceptable, a solid, middle of the road drama with the singular caveat that anything starring Loren automatically qualifies as an event—even if a minor one. [B-]