"Cone Undone" starts with a phone call in the middle of the night. Relax, it's good news for a change as Isa(Martina De Santis) has just gone into labor. That leaves her sister Anna(Alba Rohrwacher) and brother-in-law Alessio(Giuseppe Battiston) scrambling to find transportation to get her to the hospital with her
husband away from home on work. Luckily, they are friends with Bruno(Fabio Troiano), a neighborly cab driver who has done this sort of thing before. All of which gets Anna and Alessio thinking about having a child of their own and she promises to go off the pill. Before then, fate intervenes in the person of Domenico(Pierfrancesco Favino), a waiter at a company retirement party who Anna asks out for a cup of coffee despite their both being married. That's not what they are only interested in, as finding a convenient spot to get it on proves harder than it initially sounds. Finally, they settle on a hotel that charges by the hour.
"Come Undone" is a knowing and well-acted look at the emotional pitfalls of an extramarital affair. The one thing I was initially struggling with was Anna's motivation. It definitely has nothing to do with Alessio's rotund body since they certainly have a loving marriage. Rather, I think it comes down to one last blowout before her body betrays her and full responsibility kicks in, especially since she got so freaked out by her sister giving birth. After the first successful encounter, the story shifts from Anna to Domenico and we get a feel for the pressure that he is under on a daily basis. In fact, the characters are all drowning in responsbility with the price of everything counted since they have to keep track in order not to go under. However, time can be even more precious than money.
December 19, 2010
Top Critic
