“Never Too Late for Love,” a 2022 Italian romantic comedy, comes to the M.V. Film Center on Friday, Oct. 27, and plays through Nov. 2. It stars Gianni Di Gregorio as Astolfo, a retired professor evicted from his Rome apartment.
The viewer learns that Astolfo has moved into a deteriorating family palace in the country. Soon he finds and befriends a vagabond, an elderly chef, and a youthful handyman, all of whom have been living in his home. The viewer finds that Astolfo feels he’s too elderly to strike up a relationship with a woman, until he is introduced to Stefania (Stefania Sandrelli) at lunch with his friend (Alberto Testone). The friend, driving a red convertible rather than Astolfo’s less imposing car, impresses Stefania at lunch by describing meeting a bear and scaring it off.
The next day Astolfo goes to the town hall to complain about his missing pile of wood, but the mayor’s secretary says he isn’t there. With encouragement from his new friends, Astolfo decides to write Stefania a text, and she texts back. When she visits, he explains to her that he hears children singing in the church upstairs. There are pleasant little exchanges between them. Still, he continues to insist he’s too old to pursue a relationship with any woman.
He’s encouraged by his friend to meet Stefania when she goes to pick up her grandchildren after school. She watches Audrey Hepburn in “Moon River.” He runs into Stefania in town, and invites her to an outing. They go to see a beautiful church, and he imagines going for a walk with Stefania.
In the next cinematic event, Astolfo complains to a priest in his house about a broken gutter. When Stefania sits out in a field with Astolfo, her bicycling son sees them, and is suspicious of him, later complaining to his wife. In one scene, Astolfo is outside washing his friend’s car, a reminder of his less affluent state. That evening, the resentful priest yanks out the house’s electricity, and Astolfo grows upset with his friends and applies a blood pressure cuff, but Stefania shows up, and he feels better.
So it goes with these elderly people. The moral of this charming Italian comedy is that viewers, no matter their age, are always ready for love.
Information and tickets for “Never Too Late for Love” are available at mvfilmsociety.com.
