It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Film Perfection

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Guido (Valerio Mastandrea) is an award-nominated writer struggling to finish his latest work Umbrella Man. His daughter Costanza wants to quit her swimming lessons. Since it's paid for, he decides to continue the lessons himself. His wife Benedetta is depressed over their faltering relationship. The swim teacher Giulia (Valeria Golino) is hard and does not go out at night. She reveals that she killed a man and can only leave for work at the swimming pool during the day. She is estranged from her daughter.Giulia is an intriguing character and Valeria Golino has nice quiet intensity. I'm less interested with Guido, his marriage, or his book. His relationship with his daughter has some appeal. I would prefer Giulia as the lead which is suggested in the title. There is more on her side of the story to do character work. The surreal aspect of the movie isn't pushed hard enough to be visually engaging. This movie has some appeal but may be concentrating on the wrong place.

Giulia is a very intriguing character. So you can see why our main protagonist kinda is tempted by her. While reluctantly at first (it's his offspring that will lead him to the swimming pool), he wants to discover more about that woman. But our main guy has more than the obvious reason to follow her.As a writer he does have some weird dreams (adding another level to the movie). But it might also be the downfall of the movie. Trying to add as many layers to it as possible, it kinda is overloaded a bit. But all with good intentions of course. And while the main story unravels, there is this other sub-stories that are worth a stand-alone movie too. All in all, not a bad drama, but not great either.

After indicating that she would rather not continue, a writer takes over the rest of his daughter's swimming instructions because he's interested in her swimming instructor. So after some lessons from Giulia (the name of the swimming instructor), he eventually works his way up to "friendly conversation level" with her and a little later on to "ask her out level". But she refuses. Giulia doesn't date at night. And with good reason, we shortly learn, after she explains to the writer that she's in jail and only out on a work permit. Gotta give that writer credit. He didn't even blink. Personally, my eyes would have popped out of my head. Well anyway, the guy is not put off; he continues to pursue her.At the start of the movie the writer is one of the finalist for a writer's award. At the suggestion of his publisher, he attempts to get a new book started and so the real story line of him and Giulia alternates with the stories and characters of his imagination. One is about a man who never has an umbrella when it rains and who is in love with a woman who has an umbrella store. The other is about a priest concerned about a female parishioner who works as a lap dancer. These ideas for a new book eventually begin to get less attention as the writer's relationship with Giulia develops and he begins to write about her. And we see this visually represented as the imaginary characters group concernedly around the writer as he sleeps at his desk before his computer.The writer appears to have a fair relationship with his daughter though she seems somewhat troubled. Not so with his wife. He's polite, friendly and complimentary to her, but if she tries to get too close he pushes her away. The impression one get's is that he's not in love with her. For some reason Giulia "inspires" him and his wife does not. He continues to see her whenever he can. Giulia has a daughter she has only seen from a distance during her incarceration. The writer takes it upon himself to intervene and write a letter on her behalf.The relationship between the writer and Giulia is neither a sexy or torrid love affair; not particularly passionate. Rather it's a slow-moving relationship movie about an unhappy enigmatic woman prisoner and the writer besotted with her. Finally, not really my cup of tea. I felt it needed more intensity and some more humor. So basically, a mildly interesting movie about an affair under odd circumstances and people that generally do not seem particularly happy. Love, Boloxxxi.

About the life of Giulia, the mysterious character whose existence is slowly and painfully unravelled for us during the course of the movie.This is not a feel-good movie. It is very moving, and raises thoughts about fidelity, trust, and what a person really needs in their life to be able to continue to live. I came away from the cinema not knowing what to think or feel. Actually, I do know how I felt - depressed. This film is very well made and very emotive. Don't expect to sit through it without being surprised and shocked and occasionally confused by the turn of events. It is a beautiful examination of the life of Giulia, and even if what we see isn't uplifting, it is interesting.I recommend this movie for when you are in the mood for some thinking material. Not for a light night's entertainment and not for children.