Between strangers

Movie
German title	Between strangers
Original title	Between Strangers
Country of production	United States ; Canada ; Italy
original language	English
Publishing year	2002
length	97 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Edoardo Ponti
script	Edoardo Ponti
production	Elda Ferri ; Gabriella Martinelli
music	Zbigniew Preisner
camera	Gregory Middleton
cut	Roberto Silvi
occupation
	Sophia Loren : Olivia; Mira Sorvino : Natalia Bauer; Deborah Kara Unger : Catherine Baxter; Klaus Maria Brandauer : Alexander Bauer; Gérard Depardieu : Max; Malcolm McDowell : Alan Baxter; Pete Postlethwaite : John; Julian Richings : Nigel; Len Doncheff : Droghiere; Ngozi Taymah Armatrading : Miliziano; Sydney Pearson : Bambina; Kathryn Winslow : Maria; Robert Joy : Ralph; Wendy Crewson : Amanda Trent; Corey Sevier : Jeb;

Between Strangers (Original title: Between Strangers ) is a film drama by the director Edoardo Ponti from 2002 . The film was first shown out of competition at the Venice International Film Festival in 2002 and is also Sophia Loren's 100th film.

action

The film tells the story of Olivia, Natalie and Catherine in Toronto. The stories are linked by the fact that the same little, smiling girl appears to all three women.

Olivia has been married to the nagging and ungrateful John for 30 years. He has been in a wheelchair for a long time while she works in a small grocery store. In the afternoons she often comes to the park, where she has long conversations with gardener Max and draws. Drawing is Olivia's passion. As a young girl she actually wanted to become an artist and move to Florence , but this dream never came true.

Yet she draws a recurring dream of herself. Her husband shows little understanding for her occupation. But when John learns from the artist Amanda Trent, who has shown him an exhibition of her sculptures in Toronto, which look exactly like Olivia's drawings, he accuses his wife of stealing ideas. She surprises him with a confession: As a young girl, she had a child, but her father gave it up for adoption. The artist has also been adopted and Olivia now believes that this is her daughter. During a book signing, the women come together, giving Olivia the strength to make her own dreams come true. She decides to fly to Florence. Her grocery savings, $ 1200 hidden from her husband, are only enough for the flight. As a token of love, John puts his savings in her art book.

Natalie has followed in the footsteps of her famous father, the photographer Alexander Bauer, and has just returned from a photo report about the war in Angola . A photo she took of a girl there made it on the front cover of Time Magazine . But she can't remember taking this photo, so she sifts through her negatives. The memory comes back that she could have saved the girl, but only took a photo of her.

When she tells her father about it, he encourages her to continue taking pictures because that would help convict the real responsible. She declines a job offer from Time Magazine organized by her father and prefers to go back to Angola as a United Nations volunteer. Her father is disappointed, but nevertheless encourages her and shows her that he loves her.

Catherine is a cellist and is currently on tour. Her main reason for her stay in Toronto is the release of her father Alan Baxter, who beat her mother to death 22 years ago, from prison. Your goal is to shoot your father. During the stay, she neglects her family by leaving calls from her daughter and husband unanswered.

She follows her father across Toronto as he mourns her mother in the cemetery and visits her old apartment. When he slept on the street at night and was attacked and beaten up by a gang of youths, they saved him. A conversation ensues, but he flees when their manager shows up. A little later she receives the news of his death. He had intervened when a woman was beaten, had drawn the attackers on him and thus helped the woman to escape. Catherine then asks her manager to cancel all appointments and decides to return to her family.

The three women now meet at a table in the bistro at Toronto airport due to lack of space. There the little, laughing girl appears again and they all laugh together.

criticism

“A film that only captivates in individual moments, but is often too sentimental, overloaded with emotions and all too static. The prominent actors can only cover up the less elegant style to a limited extent. "

- Lexicon of international film .

“The excellently cast and moving directorial debut of Sophia Loren's son Edoardo Ponti has already been shown at numerous film festivals and has been nominated for prizes. Quite rightly, because just how Depardieu, as the graying gardener, is courting the unfortunate Sophia Loren, is one of the most beautiful and cheerful moments of this cinema year. "

- kino.de .

“These are difficult times that Edoardo Ponti (30) lets the heroines of his episode film lurch. Nevertheless, the melodrama about women at the crossroads of their lives by no means sinks into agonizing clichés. On the contrary: the directorial debutant describes how the trio overcomes its strengths in weakness without false tones and romantic transfiguration. Conclusion: Silent, touching portraits of three women who turn the dream of no into reality. "

- cinema.de .