La vita che vorrei (2004)

The film opens with a tight close-up of Laura (Sandra Ceccarelli), a young actress just starting out: insecure and troubled, with slumped shoulders, yet direct and disarming in her role. She is auditioning for the first time for an important film, a period piece telling the moving love story of Eleonora and Federico, set in the nineteenth century. Laura’s co-star is Stefano (Luigi Lo Cascio), an established actor who has recently become disillusioned with his work: an arrogant, controlled, cold man, hounded by anonymous, insulting phone calls in which he begins to recognize himself. At first, Stefano does not like Laura joining the cast and would rather have Chiara (Galatea Ranzi), a familiar face and an old friend of his. But from their first scenes together, he is captivated by Laura’s performance and personality, and falls in love with her. From that point on, a parallel love story begins, slipping into and merging with “the film within the film.” It is a real and difficult love, told through four voices: those of Laura/Eleonora and Stefano/Federico.