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Meet Sofia, with Fabio De Luigi and Micaela Ramazzotti.

Guido Chiesa tries his hand at the Italian remake of a Spanish-language film.

This time it's the turn of an Argentinian subject (If you'll excuse me, don't talk to me about children!), where we touch on a topic that is talked about a lot. To make you smile at the conflicts and misunderstandings that arise when a divorced father who lives for his daughter ends up denying her for the love of a woman who "hates" children.

The result is a classic situation comedy, polite even without sensational innovations, and with some more serious implications. A small film that is a pleasure to watch thanks to the good performance of the protagonists and two surprises: the spontaneity of little Caterina Sbaraglia and the charisma of Shel Shapiro. The younger ones will perhaps discover it with this film, but the older ones know Shel Shapiro well. A very respectable artistic journey, reflected with irony in the figure of the rarely present father and the fascinating and creative grandfather.

Meet Sofia is a light and funny comedy, which debunks many of the preconceptions that there are about those who don't want children, especially in a society like ours where the family is considered an essential value. First of all, the film does away with the common belief that only men don't want children. No, sometimes it's women who don't want children too and it doesn't mean that they are crazy maniacs with career problems or serious troubles behind them.

Mara, in fact, is not like that. She has a fairly adventurous life, she has a large and cumbersome family behind her. Nothing that could be considered a terrible trauma that would have given her the sacred fear of not becoming a mother: it is not her desire. Precisely because she is a very normal person who simply doesn't want motherhood. She and she are absolutely capable of developing a relationship of sympathy and complicity with Sofia, which goes beyond the one she has with Gabriele.

And in fact the point is precisely this: Mara doesn't hate children, Mara doesn't want to be a mother, but she is an affectionate, profound and correct person.

It is in showing us human relationships that Meet Sofia offers sparks of comedy. She does it both in the bickering between Gabriele and Mara and in the surreal discussions with his brother. These are small scenes of humanity that know how to entertain and that also say true things. Meet Sofia is a cheerful, funny film that offers more than a few laughs, a delicate comedy that talks about important things without ever going overboard. Both Fabio De Luigi and Micaela Ramazzotti are perfect for the part, whose comic pairing works really well, but the whole cast does an excellent job.

 

Giuseppe Calabrese for Accademia Artisti