In seaside Italy, a Holocaust survivor with a daycare business takes in a 12-year-old street kid who recently robbed her.... (Full plot summary below)
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In seaside Italy, a Holocaust survivor with a daycare business takes in a 12-year-old street kid who recently robbed her.
Leave your thoughts about The Life Ahead.
| New York PostJohnny OleksinskiThe actress is absolute bliss in her new Italian drama, The Life Ahead. |
| Washington PostAnn HornadayThe Life Ahead might be a familiar story, but as a showcase for Loren’s sensuality, star power and unfailing instincts, it feels both classic and exhilaratingly new. She’s still got it, and as this performance reminds us at every turn, she always did. |
| TheWrapSteve PondThe heart of the film is in the connection between a 12-year-old boy and an 86-year-old woman, and Loren and Gueye make that relationship rich and touching enough to give life to the movie that surrounds it. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperWhile it is unabashedly sentimental and at times goes over the top with the symbolic melodramatic devices, it is a beautifully shot and heartwarming film, and the 86-year-old Loren is magnificent and regal and fierce and funny and beautiful and screen-commanding throughout. |
| Boston GlobeTy BurrYet The Life Ahead works admirably well — meaning you’re reduced to soggy Kleenex but honestly — in large part because of the grounded, magnetic performances of the two leads. |
| The New York TimesGlenn KennyThis picture earns its tear-jerking without becoming treacly. OK, without becoming too treacly. And it has other charming, enlightened components. |
| ABCPeter TraversGet out your handkerchiefs. Directed by her son Edoardo Ponti, Sophia Loren, 86, returns to the screen after a decade to play a Holocaust survivor who raises the children of prostitutes. There is not a single false note in Loren’s magnificent performance. Just sit back and behold. |
| The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySlipping into the flavorful Neapolitan accent of her early years, Loren creates a warm-blooded, grounded character, whose feistiness ebbs slowly as the ravages of age, ill health and painful memory take hold. It's a lovely performance, full of pathos, from an esteemed actress whose wealth of experience illuminates this touching human drama. |
| Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattIt's the smaller moments shared by the movie's flawed, humble characters — Loren twirling to old samba records in magic-hour sunlight; Karimi's Hamil teaching Momo how to reweave a rug — and its immersive Italian setting that make Life worth its sweet, meandering time. |
| RogerEbert.comSheila O'Malley"The Last Movie Star" paid tribute to Burt Reynolds' career, but also appreciated what he brought to the table as an old man. The Life Ahead operates the same way, allowing Loren similar grace and space. |
