The Son's Room (2001) (Vintage World Cinema)

Read more

Nanni Moretti ('Dear Diary') writes, directs and stars in this story of family grief and bereavement. Psychiatrist Giovanni (Moretti) lives happily with his family in a small Italian coastal town. One Sunday he is due to spend time with his son Andrea (Giuseppe Sanfelice), when he receives an anguished call from Oscar, one of his patients, and feels he must go and see him instead; however later that afternoon Andrea accidentally drowns in a diving accident. Over the following weeks, Giovanni, his wife Paola (Laura Morante), and daughter Irene (Jasmine Trinca), remain shell-shocked with grief; with Giovanni suspending his practice, and relations between himself and Paola becoming increasingly difficult. When a letter then arrives from a girl who Andrea had met the previous summer, who none of the family knew anything about, they all become curious to learn more about this person who meant so much to their departed son and brother.