The Last Kiss

Parenthood stirs up a wealth of mixed emotions in this drama from Italy. Carlo ( Stefano Accorsi ) and Giulia ( Giovanna Mezzogiorno ) are a couple in their late twenties who realize they've crossed the final threshold into adulthood when Giulia discovers she's going to have a baby. Even though Carlo has already settled down, he sees parenthood as the first step towards becoming the sort of middle-class suburbanite he's never respected, and he's not happy about it. Carlo's friends are also having mixed feelings about the onset of maturity: Adriano ( Giorgio Pasotti ) can't decide if he should go through with his marriage to Livia ( Sabrina Impacciatore ), Paolo ( Claudio Santamaria ) is trying to find a way out of going into business with his father, and Alberto ( Marco Cocci ) seems to be waging a one-man war against monogamy by seducing as many women as possible. Meanwhile, Giulia is having her own misgivings about parenthood, and her mother Anna ( Stefania Sandrelli ) is torn between happiness for her daughter and dread that she's now old enough to be a grandmother; Anna's malaise isn't eased by the lack of compassion shown by her husband ( Luigi Diberti ). — Mark Deming