Breaking Up in Rome

Tommaso and Zoe have been together for ten years. They decide to separate, calmly, without a fight. The trouble is that finding a flat in Rome is impossible and both of them have to go on living in the same one. New relationships begin, and the old flat is the same flat. Edoardo Leo directs and takes the lead; Marta Nieto plays Zoe. What the narrative builds is not the emotional side of a separation but the logistical side. Who sleeps where, what happens when someone stays over, which way the shared friends fall: that is where the comedy comes from. The familiar shape of Italian romantic comedy is built on two people coming back together, and the film plays with that expectation, holding the audience on the same question throughout. Leo is a known name in Italy as both actor and director, and the dialogue is fed by his acting side; the best passages are the long talking scenes. The weakness is the second half. Once the situation is used up the script finds nothing new, and the ending settles somewhere predictable. Rome here is not a postcard: property prices, small flats and the pressure of rent are the engine of the story. Who it is for: viewers who like contemporary Italian comedy and films built on the end of a relationship. Who it is not for: the idea rests on a single joke, it runs long, and it finally goes where the genre is expected to go.