User Reviews

"It's precisely when you give up hope that good things happen."

Both Mimi and Madame Rosa have gone through so much pain. Most of the characters were outcasts. Momo, the orphan and protagonist who learns to grow as a person though understanding Madame Rosa. Madame Rosa the Aushwitz survivor who is living as a migrant in Italy. Iosif, who never gave up hope on his mother coming back for him. Lola, the transgender woman who exudes femininity and warm hearted energy through caring about Madame Rosa and the children she takes care of.

I cried so much when Momo snuck Rosa out of the hospital and took her to her safe place, her "refuge". When the police were looking for her and she was reliving her trauma of hiding, Momo was there to comfort her and relive her fear and pain. This made me cry so much.

Also, when he was crying that Iosif left that made me very sad because he lied to Iosif saying he wouldn't miss him. Momo holds in a lot of his feelings and for him to let them out when no one around is looking made me learn a part of myself that does the same. Madame Rosa came along after and comforted him.

Iosif showed the power of hope, faith and prayer. He did not lose faith or trust in his own belief which was inspiring. He had empathy for Madame Rosa and prayed for her. He was an angel in the film, keeping hope in times of uncertainty where one could easily feel lost and give up.

Overall, it made me very emotional but there was also parts of the film that I didn't care much for.

There are two major problems with this film. First, it basically ignores all the reasons why the original story was so strong. Secondly, it has to compete with the original film version (La Vie Devant Soi - called Madam Rosa in the English title) - starring Simone Signoret.

The first big error is in changing the focus of the story. Yes, it is still told from Momo's point of view (sort of) - but it has suddenly made Momo a "problem child" and incipient hoodlum - which was not part of the original story I don't believe - and instead of simply a kid who had been left with Madame Rosa, he is suddenly a thief who improbably has to be put in her care in the most unbelievable way.

These changes mean that the story is no longer about a kid learning from the life around him but rather a fight between good and evil within him - which was not at all part of the original. All is angst - where as the original story is humorous and philosophical and filled with the lessons of discovery. Instead of true understanding and growth, this film depends more on stock clichés. Madame Rosa's children are of all backgrounds and religions, and in the original story she insists on making sure that each child remains true to his own religion and culture. This is done out of respect for the individual children, but is not at all made clear in the new version. Yes, Mme Rosa has a tattoo on her arm and mentions Auschwitz, but we get absolutely no sense of her being attached at all to her Jewishness. The audience is supposed to understand what all this means, but she doesn't explain any of it to Momo -and this is the real problem with the film. There are no convincing diaologues between them that don't simply sound preachy. Everything is surface - nothing seems to be deeply rooted in anything except facile melodrama.

Finally, there is Sophia Loren, who I have always liked in the past, but who somehow seems to be sleepwalking through most of this part. Everything is underplayed, as if she is counting on her reputation rather than her talent to pull this one off. She is supposed to be an aging , physically exhausted older prostitute, but we get no indication of age or pain in her body. Anyone remembering Simone Signoret's Madame Rosa (for which she won an Oscar) realizes how much more Signoret inhabited the character - making us feel like every movement and every breath was an effort. She was far more believable than Loren, who still gives the impression for most of it of being in far too good shape physically. Even the script is illogical about this; she excuses herself and two minutes later the two others go looking for her. She is eventually found in an orchard which is so vast that she would have had to be a marathon runner to have reached the point where they find her in the time allotted... yet she is supposed to be barely able to walk. Yes, she keeps lapsing into catatonia - but we get the impression she is going into Alzheimer's instead of being physically enfeebled by a bad heart. In the end, the IDEA of this story is better than the execution. A huge disappointment - much of which should be placed at the feet of Loren's son, who directed and co-wrote the script - making unnecessary changes which allowed for simplification instead of depth. All those who have been raving about how touching this film and Loren's acting are have obviously not seen the original film or read the book it was based on. If they had, they too would be less enthralled. This version would almost certainly never have gotten off the ground without the Loren/Ponti names behind it.

I think I saw Mark Kermode talking about this Italian film on The Film Review for BBC News, it certainly sounded like something good and the sort of film I would expect to gain attention during Awards Season. Basically, in the port city of Bari, Apulia, Italy, Madame Rosa (Sophia Loren) is a former prostitute and Jewish Holocaust survivor with a day-care business, providing a home in her apartment for children of other "working women". One day, Rosa is shaken after a young boy robs her on the street. This twelve-year-old orphaned Senegalese immigrant child, Momo (Ibrahima Gueye), is arrested. Dr. Cohen (Renato Carpentieri), the boy's foster father, who also happens to be Rosa's doctor, brings her stolen items back and makes the boy apologise. Cohen offers Rosa money to take the boy in and look after him for a couple of months, and she reluctantly agrees. It is revealed that Momo has been kicked out of school for stabbing a bully with a pencil. Momo has also made money from secretly selling drugs for a dealer in Bari. Rosa finds him a job working with kind Muslim shopkeeper Hamil (Babak Karimi). All the adults try to guide the boy in the right direction. Rosa's mentality starts to decline, but she is helped by her neighbour and friend, a prostitute named Lola (Abril Zamora), whose daughter Rosa looks after. At times she is vibrant and rational while at others she is unresponsive. Rosa and Momo develop a deep bond, after he becomes her only ward. He quits selling drugs. Rosa asks Momo to promise to keep her out of the hospital, and he agrees. But she is taken there following a particularly bad episode. Momo sneaks her out of the hospital at night and hides her in a basement room of her apartment building where she feels safe. It ends in tragedy when Lola finds Momo sobbing for Rosa after she dies. It ends with Rosa's funeral. Loren delivers a commanding and soulful performance as the woman with a troubled past who forms an unlikely friendship with the boy who robbed her, and Gueye is good as the young man. This is a somewhat standard story of an older woman and an immigrant child bonding, I will be honest and say that I dipped in and out a little, but it is a good tale about love and tolerance, a worthwhile drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Original Song for "Io Si (Seen)" written by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini (also nominated the Golden Globe), and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language. Sophia Loren was number 24 on The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols, and she was number 21 on 100 Years, 100 Stars - Women. Good!