FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
THE KEYS TO THE HOUSE
Gianni (Kim Rossi Stuart, a cross between Maxwell Caulfield and Grant
Show) reunites with his handicapped son Paolo (Andrea Rossi), whom he had
abandoned at birth. He accompanies the 15 year old, who appears to be
much younger, to Berlin for a series of tests and observations. He's afraid to take his
eyes off the boy, trying too hard to help. Paolo is many ways a typical teenager - moody,
stubborn, striving to be independent. He pushes his dad away, reminding him, "I
can walk, you know." At the hospital, he routinely and patiently submits to having blood
drawn; Gianni, looking on, feels sick. Nicole (a serene Charlotte Rampling), a French mother
of a handicapped daughter, immediately notices Gianni in the corridor - he is the only
father there. She also notices his shame.
The film has an unhurried pace as it follows Gianni and Paolo.
Detachedly observing Gianni's growing and frustrating relationship with his son, which is
born out of guilt as well as love, the many single-shot scenes capture more than just a
sense of the long road ahead for Gianni. A simple outing to a basketball game turns
into a nightmare as Paolo, discarding his father's admonition, doesn't stay put when his
father's back is turned.
The mood is restrained and the scenes repetitive, so it is startling when there is a
sudden burst of emotion as Gianni interrupts a doctor's examination and makes a made
dash to embrace his son or Nicole confines to Gianni her darkest thoughts. Like Gianni,
the viewer will need patience for the taxing, drawn-out interactions. The film's saving
grace is not only the effective ending in which the future is uncertain, but also Gianni himself. He
is way over his head and dangerously naive to think he knows
what is right for his son, making the film less predictable. Kent Turner
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