Synopsis
Set in Genoa, the film concerns the financial struggles and emotional strain that occur after Michele loses his job. He and his wife Elsa are forced to give up their affluent lifestyle and cope with the tensions of moving into a smaller home, finding new work, and making sacrifices.
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Cast
- Margherita BuyElsa
- Antonio AlbaneseMichele
- Alba RohrwacherAlice
- Giuseppe BattistonVito
- Fabio TroianoRiki
- Carla SignorisNadia
- Paolo SassanelliSalviati
- Antonio Carlo FranciniLuciano
- Teco CelioAcct. Terzetti
- Arnaldo NinchiMichele's father
Recommendations
- 90
The New York Times
A brave film simply for daring to portray a nightmare lurking in the minds of middle-aged workers, people who might fear a film that addresses their insecurities this bluntly. - 83
The A.V. Club
At times, Soldini gets so wrapped up in his characters' suffering that the movie loses perspective; it's a little hard to sympathize when the couple's needs grow so great that they're forced to sell their boat. - 75
NPR
For Soldini, even bleakness has a poetic side, and his imagery is occasionally breathtaking here -- never more so than in the film's final tableau, which elegantly connects a Renaissance fresco Elsa had been working on before the couple's fall from grace with a strikingly similar real-life image suggesting the possibility of a renaissance in their marriage. - 75
Boston Globe
In American movies, the iconic question usually is, can men and women be friends without the sex part getting in the way? Here it's, can a husband appreciate his wife as a woman? The movie's success in Italy is partly a matter of frustration: Women need their men to grow up. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
At times "Days" seems more of a social commentary on the shrinking middle class than the will-they-or-won't-they-make-it story at the heart of the film. - 70
Los Angeles Times
An intelligent adult drama that's especially relevant in these harsh economic times. - 70
Washington Post
Sometimes art imitates life; sometimes it is life. If the market gets any worse, Days and Clouds could kill realism outright. - 50
Village Voice
Without grounding in specific causes-and-effects, the film is just another dreary wallow in self-pity.
