A man is tempted by his best friend's
son during a summer vacation on the Italian Riviera in Director Marco
Filiberti's David's Birthday (Il Compleanno).
Happily married Matteo (played by
Massimo Poggio) and his wife Francesca (Maria de Medeiros) have
escaped to a magnificent seaside villa to spend the summer with old
friends Shary (Michela Cescon) and Diego (Alessandro Gassman), a
couple on the border of breaking up due to Diego's lifelong fear of
commitment and fondness for extramarital dalliances.
Matteo, on the other hand, is the
responsible, doting husband and caring father.
But when amazingly handsome David,
Shary and Diego's son, arrives, even altruistic Matteo, a dapper
psychiatrist with sparkling blue eyes and a scruffy beard, cannot
resist his charms. (David is played by real life Armani model Thyago
Alves.)
Director Filiberti studiedly moves into
place an increasingly complicated dynamic between the lives of the
two couples, while simultaneously building the tension between Matteo
and David.
But any deck of cards built that high
will eventually fall. And when the men finally give in to their
unspoken desire, the fall is both breathtakingly tragic and
beautiful.
The film's dramatic final sequence,
which combines a magnificent operatic score with stunning
photography, and stellar performances all the way around, destine
David's Birthday to become a gay classic.
David's
Birthday
is not rated and arrives on DVD in Italian with English subtitles on
November 9.