Before shifting radically from one character’s perspective to another’s, this intriguing 1999 drama follows Francesco (Alessandro Gassman) from Rome to Istanbul after he inherits the estate of an aunt he’d hardly known, including a bathhouse that’s fallen into disrepair. Partly because he’s having problems in his marriage, he feels more at home in Turkey—where the estate custodian’s family instantly treats him as a member—and he immerses himself in restoring the bathhouse. When his wife (Francesca d’Aloja) comes after him, she too is embraced by the family, though she’s ambivalent about accepting their hospitality. The revelations that follow her arrival are particularly striking because they’re not sensationalized. Director Ferzan Ozpetek wrote the screenplay with Stefano Tummolini.
