After watching Sin City, and getting, um, a little flustered at my attraction to Jessica Alba in that film, I was curious what my parents’ version of Jessica Alba was. For my mom, it was Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. Makes total sense. For my dad, I was thinking maybe Grace Kelly, or Marilyn Monroe. But no, his answer? The Italian Marilyn Monroe: Sophia Loren. Ah yes, the Italian dream of a woman. Because of her beauty, Loren’s acting talent has always been overlooked. In The Life Ahead, Loren is still very pretty, but its her acting talents keeping you mesmerized this time, carrying a so so film into almost something special. I guess the Marilyn Monroes have that in common.
Momo (Ibrahima Gueye) lives a guidance free life in Italy as a Senegalese immigrant, making money on the street under the nose of his guardian (Renato Carpentieri), a doctor. Stepping in to help discipline Momo is Loren’s Madame Rosa, a badass lady with a terse demeanor. And, because of similar past traumas, both find a kindred spirit in one another.
There’s lots of pitfalls in telling a story like this that The Life Ahead avoids. You can see the general pitch” “let’s put a Jewish Holocaust Survivor and African refugee together.” Inside of that general premise is a host of icky potential storytelling choices: the white savior complex, the magical black character, cheap street death as a plot device, cultural appropriation like Sophia Loren dancing to hip hop. Fortunately, The Life Ahead does none of those things. Each of the people in Madame Rosa’s island of misfit toys is their own person, with their own hopes and dreams and lives. Cultural cache isn’t being passed, around, it’s more general life advice, which passes wisdom from one generation to the next. Gestures of love in a family like this are as a result more subtle in nature, so a hand holding or thank you comes from the deep recesses of the soul that has built up heavy pain defenses. So by the time the third act goes a little crazy, you shrug it off because of the generally well thought out story that preceded it.
And right there in the middle of everything is Sophia Loren, the bedrock of the movie. Even though it’s Momo’s story, it is Loren who goes through the toughest, most interesting acting challenge, as a strong woman who has to slowly lose her strength through no fault of her own, just age. It’s a beautiful, heartbreaking performance, because of how laser focused Loren is in inbuing Madame Rosa properly. Ibrahima Gueye is very winning playing Momo next to her, mostly holding his own, and carrying the story sometimes in small spurts on his own, decently.
The Life Ahead will make most people happy just knowing Sophia Loren is still alive, and has her fastball. And who knows? In 2021, stranger things could happen than Loren going up on stage and accepting a virtual Oscar in some gorgeous Italian city. It would be like a mini vacation for everyone!