The Family Friend (2006)

Recommended

Italy/France

Feature Film
Original Title: L’amico di famiglia
Writer/Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Cinematographer: Luca Bigazzi
Composer: Teho Teardo
Cast: Giacomo Rizzo, Laura Chiatti, Gigi Angelillo, Marco Giallini, Barbara Valmorin, Luisa De Santis, Clara Bindi

An ageing, small-time moneylender who lives with his elderly, bed-ridden mother, and is, thanks to his hideous looks and complete lack of charm, prolifically unlucky with members of the opposite sex, manages to manoeuvre his way into the knickers of the beautiful young daughter of an indebted client, in Sorrentino’s stylish and entertaining if mildly disappointing follow-up to the far superior The Consequences of Love (2004). Iain.Stott