Nuovo Olimpo **** (2023, Damiano Gavino, Andrea Di Luigi, Luisa Ranieri, Greta Scarano, Aurora Giovinazzo) – Classic Movie Review 12,710

In late 1970s Rome, two 25-year-old men meet by chance in the street and then in the Nuovo Olimpo cinema, and fall instantly in love. Aspiring film director Enea (Damiano Gavino) and medical student Pietro (Andrea Di Luigi) are made for each other, but…

Writer/ director Ferzan Özpetek’s 2023 film Nuovo Olimpo is a superb Italian gay romantic drama with an old movies / old movie theatre spin, a gently expressed but strong pro-gay sentiment, and a warm nostalgic glow. It is a super-romantic story of intense young love, the kind of love that never dies whatever happens in the story.

In Rome in the late 1970s, two 25-year-old men meet by chance in the street and then in the cinema of the title, and fall instantly and madly in love. They are aspiring film director Enea (Damiano Gavino) and shy medical student Pietro (Andrea Di Luigi). They are made for each other, but…

Their relationship is just about to begin, when an unexpected event separates them and one of them, Pietro, is injured running from a violent street demonstration. For 30 years they pursue the hope of finding each other again, because they still love each other.

The two men are properly handsome, dashing and quietly charismatic. One becomes a film-maker, the other a doctor. They both find new partners: one is gay, the other married (to a woman, it’s Italy). They lose each other for what seems forever, as the years roll by, but an on-set accident finally gives them a chance to meet up again, and…

Extremely nice, sympathetic, convincing turns from the two attractive starring guys Damiano Gavino and Andrea Di Luigi keep audiences well on their side. Quite properly, they have most of the movie to themselves. There is though a Fellini-esque woman behind the counter of the Nuovo Olimpo cinema, played by Luisa Ranieri as Titti, and much quality time is spent with her cassiera (cashier) character. One of the film’s segments is set poignantly at the time of Fellini’s death. Initially in the late 1970s, the cinema is showing Italian movie classics, but later it survives only as a porn cinema. Well, at least it didn’t become a bingo hall. The Italians have abandoned the cinema.

In an otherwise impeccable production, it is a slight shame that the ageing makeup and prosthetics are a bit clumsy and off-putting.

There’s some gay love making and full frontal nudity, all very discreet and charming. The film comments on the lack of gay movies in Italy and straight men turning away from seeing gay men kissing. The women in the film, though, are charmed and excited. The plot is a bit contrived but the situations and characters are convincing.

Love never dies. The people we meet and love and then lose along the way will stay with us for ever. It was always going to be difficult to find a satisfying ending for this story, as the whole point is that it doesn’t have an ending, so its ending might not be entirely satisfying, more a bit bewildering and frustrating.

Yet it’s a lovely, wonderful film, catnip for lovers of cinema, nostalgia and romance, and of course it is great to see Rome, recall events in Italian history and hear the Italian spoken too.

Shooting took place from 14 November 2022 to 31 January 2023, and the film benefits greatly from being shot entirely in Rome, specifically in Municipio III and Monte Sacro, and with a memorable scene overlooking The Forum.

It premiered at the Rome Film Festival on 22 October 2023 and was released with available subtitles on Netflix on 1 November 2023.

The cast are Damiano Gavino as aspiring film director Enea, Andrea Di Luigi as shy medical student Pietro, Luisa Ranieri as Titti, Greta Scarano as Giulia, Aurora Giovinazzo as Alice, Alvise Rigo as Antonio, and Giancarlo Commare as Ernesto.

Duration: 111 minutes.

Production: R&C Produzioni and Faros Film.

Ferzan Özpetek was born in Istanbul in 1959. In 1976, he decided to move to Italy to study Cinema History at Sapienza University of Rome. His directorial debut was Hamam [Il bagno turco] [The Turkish Bath], released in May 1997.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,710

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