After the unexpected success of Mid-August Lunch, in which an ageing bachelor is forced to organise bed and breakfast for his mother and her friends during the August holidays, Gianni Di Gregorio said he was terrified of making another film.
He need not have worried because this charming story, about another ageing man, again played by the director himself, has many of the same qualities. This time the central character is in his sixties with a busy working wife and a family who expect him, since he has retired, to do most of the chores for them.
His mother, again played by the now 95-year-old Valeria De Franciscis Bendoni, is particularly difficult to please.
He is on the lookout for a mistress, meanwhile, but is acutely aware that pretty girls don't look at him any more, and nor presumably does his wife.
Among other depressing signals, the ex-girlfriend he takes out falls asleep during their meeting. He is no Berlusconi - but what to do?
Gently observant, full of understated humour and respectful of the pensioner's dilemma, The
Salt of Life doesn't quite match up to Mid-August Lunch but is still eminently worth seeing for its sheer warmth and humanity.
The Salt Of Life (Gianna E Le Donne)
Cert: 12A
