The Family Friend review

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

“A dive into humanity and its degeneracy,” is how Neapolitan writer-director Paolo Sorrentino tags his wonderfully strange new film. Ducking simple categorisation, it’s also (deep breath) a Beauty And The Beast fairytale, a homage to Fellini’s small-town tragic-comedies, a con-artist drama and a study in emotional dysfunction.

Living alone with his invalid mum in a leaky apartment, elderly loanshark Geremia (Giacomo Rizzo) is, as he puts it, “a pathetic and disgusting person”. It’s while shilling himself to clients as a deep-pocketed benefactor that he meets the stunning Rosalba (Laura Chiatti), whose wedding is causing her olds financial woe.

Those who saw The Consequences Of Love won’t be surprised at how Sorrentino (with Romanzo Criminale DP Luca Bigazzi) blurs the boundaries between dream and reality. Wrangling the characters in vividly coloured tableaux, he dazzles the viewer with an array of enigmatic images.

NO VERDICT

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.