Palme d’Or winner 2001. Nanni Moretti, one of Italy’s most celebrated contemporary directors, changed gear with this film. Moving away from his more personal portraits of Italian life, he focused on a tragedy that afflicts one family. Giovanni (Moretti) and Paola (a superb Laura Morente) are supportive, but not intrusive, parents to their teenage children Irene and Andrea. Their home life is a sharp contrast to the crises in other families’ lives that he hears about in his job as a psychoanalyst. Then, one day, such a crisis hits home. Moretti’s study of personal, emotional pain could have made an explosive melodrama. Instead, he opts for a quiet refection on the fragility of our lives and how one incident can tear them apart. It is a devastating work of restraint and compassion.