Italy
2007
100 minutes
Additional Countries: France
Language: Italian with English English Sub-Titles
Director: Marco Simon Puccioni

A beautiful and wealthy lesbian couple take a Moroccan teenager into their home in this gripping narrative dealing with issues of race, class and homophobia.

Returning to Italy after a romantic getaway in Tunisia, Anna and Mara find an unexpected souvenir stashed in their luggage - an Arab teenager named Anis. Nearly broke and a stranger to Europe, Anis finds himself adopted by the spoiled but good-hearted Anna, the heiress to a shoe manufacturing business. And while the distrustful Mara, a factory worker employed by Anna's family, initially resents the intrusion, the three find a fragile domestic rhythm: Anna the concerned mother, Mara the sisterly confidant and Anis the curious child. But the forces of the outside world soon start to undermine their makeshift family; Anna must endure the cold disapproval of her mother, Mara suffers at her ailing father's bedside, and Anis begins to quietly take advantage of his new home life-while trying to understand why two unmarried women choose to sleep in the same bed. As Anis and Mara grow closer, they realize their common bond - and problem - with Anna: "She's my shelter, because she loves me."

Veteran Italian director Marco Simon Puccioni brings a straightforward, Continental touch to this well-behaved drama, which screened at the 2007 Berlin Film Festival. Puccioni lets his actors do the work as they try to carve out a niche between the various polarities of their characters' identities - native versus foreign, straight versus gay, rich versus poor. - AARON LAZENBY

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