Review: Love Is Not Perfect

Love Is Not Perfect (original title L’amore è imperfetto) stars a woman and has a woman director. Those two things enticed me to watch it. It’s in Italian with English subtitles. The point of the film, the best I could figure it out, is that it takes a lot of time and mistakes to grow into your life. 

First, a ratings notice. There is a lot of sex in this film. The Italian filmmaker isn’t shy about sex. Elena (Anna Foglietta) is the lead character, and the person who has sex with all the other characters.

One afternoon, 35-year old Elena meets two strangers: Adriana (Lorena Cacciatore) an emotional and needy 18-year old, and Ettore (Bruno Wolkowitch) a handsome older man. She is attracted to them both.

As Elena interacts with these two and gets to know them, flashbacks are interspersed in the story.

The flashbacks involve her experiences with an early love, Marco (Giulio Berruti). Elena lived with him for a time, became pregnant by him, and then discovered he also liked men. They broke up and the decisions around the pregnancy are unexplored until the very end of the movie.

Elena really likes Ettore and wants to be with him, but Adriana is relentless in pursuit of her. She gives in to her attraction to the much younger woman. Ettore knows almost as much about Adriana as Elena does – they all met on the same day. He is tolerant about Elena’s indecision. Which is an interesting comparison when you remember that Elena dumped Marco for doing exactly what she’s doing now.

Adriana goes to Cuba for a while, which makes life much easier for Elena and Ettore. They become a couple and the supportive Ettore helps Elena come to terms with her past.

Love Is Not Perfect is visually and emotionally engaging, but not the most coherent plot or believable conclusion. If I were giving stars to this one I would give it 5 out of 10. Which doesn’t mean it was really good or really bad – it was okay.

The film was ably directed by first time director Francesca Muci, based on her own novel. It was released in 2012 and is currently available on Amazon video.