Se sei così ti dico sì (2011)

Piero Cicala is a former singer nearing sixty who had just one major musical hit in the early 1980s, with the song “Io, te e il mare,” which he wrote with his two best friends at the time and which sold more than seven hundred thousand copies. The fortune Cicala made from this success was squandered, however, and after buying a restaurant in Savelletri, he lost it in his divorce settlement with his wife. Quickly forgotten, and frustrated in his ambitions to put forward new songs as well, Piero Cicala resigned himself to a modest life as a cook in what used to be his restaurant, now owned by his ex-wife, where the young orphaned son of one of the friends from the original trio also works. Cicala’s drab life is interrupted, however, when his former agent sends an emissary to offer him a chance to perform his signature song on the TV show I migliori anni, hosted by Carlo Conti. Initially reluctant to take part, especially because he is discouraged by criticism from his ex-wife Marta, Piero realizes that appearing on the show could be a turning point in his life. Invited to Rome to appear on the program, Piero stays at the same hotel as Talita Cortès, an Argentine diva in Italy to promote a new perfume. Cortès mistakenly believes that Cicala is still a popular singer, and, through a series of circumstances, the two are photographed by paparazzi, who assume that Cicala is the South American diva’s new flame. On the TV show, Piero tries to sing one of his less well-known songs, but the director cuts off his performance. Piero then sings “Io, te e il mare,” to great acclaim. Talita Cortes also watches Piero’s performance and decides to take him with her to New York for a party. At the party, the fashionable, high-society crowd does not appreciate Piero’s music, so he decides to try the song that has always been his favorite but had never found success. He sings “Amami di più” at the piano, and it is a huge hit. On his return to Savelletri, Cicala finds himself enjoying a new, if only local, fame and decides to start performing again with the only friend left from the original trio and the other friend’s son. They are all older now, ready to play simply for the pleasure of it, not out of ambition to achieve success at any cost.