Ten Winters (Dieci inverni)

A decade of missed chances beguiles and rewards the quietly unassuming debut from Valerio Mieli who won the David di Donatello (Italian Academy) Award 2010 for Best First Time Director for this moving tale of two friends who secretly have deeper feelings for one another. TEN WINTERS screened in the Venice International Film Festival's Controcampo sidebar.

Winter, 1999. Camilla (Isabella Ragonese, La Nostra Vita IFF10), a student of Slavic literature, leaves home to take up residence in a semi-derelict house in an overcast Venice devoid of tourists. On the last leg of her journey - a ferry to her island - she's spotted by a would-be Romeo, Silvestro (Michele Riondino, The Past Is a Foreign Land, IFF08). Despite getting the brush-off, Silvestro follows Camilla to her home and manages to insinuate himself as a guest for the night but he fails in his gentle efforts to seduce her. Over the next ten years, Silvestro and Camilla develop a strong bond, and the narrative captures a beautifully painful, reflective push and pull between two souls who keep finding their way back to each other.

Charming performances by leads Michele Riondino and Isabella Ragonese combine with a restrained, intelligent atmosphere to create an involving romantic drama which echoes the mantra "Would've, could've, should've" and highlights that, in life, timing is everything.