Succederà questa notte

Love arrives late in Nanni Moretti’s SUCCEDERÀ QUESTA NOTTE, and timing is never on its side. Spanning two decades, the film follows Matteo and Greta, whose lives repeatedly cross paths even as circumstances make a shared future impossible. Moretti turns coincidence, lost chances and delayed desire into the fuel of a romantic melodrama that moves between irony, tenderness and unabashed passion. Louis Garrel gives Matteo an appealing mix of nervous charm and romantic obsession, while Jasmine Trinca plays Greta with a sensuality tempered by intelligence and hesitation; their chemistry is what keeps the love story alive. The film comes into its own when Moretti lets images and music take over: a tender encounter unfolds to the Rolling Stones’ She’s a Rainbow, before spilling over into a joyous street dance. His playful staging and luminous framings turn Rome into a romantic landscape of encounters and missed opportunities, while Alberto Iglesias’s score lends the story a bittersweet undertone. With its warm photography and vividly drawn characters, the film embraces romance without embarrassment. Moretti may bend probability to a breaking point, but his subject is the human urge to believe that love can still outwit time. (Maria Giovanna Vagenas)

Nanni Moretti (selection): ECCE BOMBO (1978), SOGNI D’ORO (1981), BIANCA (1984), PALOMBELLA ROSSA (1989), CARO DIARIO (1993), APRILE (1998), LA STANZA DEL FIGLIO (2001), IL CAIMANO (2006), HABEMUS PAPAM (2011), MIA MADRE (2015), SANTIAGO, ITALIA (2018), TRE PIANI (2021), IL SOL DELL’AVVENIRE (2023)