Back from the hospital where he has been treated after a heart attack, Lorenzo is on his way upstairs to his top-floor apartment in Naples when he meets Michela. The charming young woman, who has just moved to the facing apartment, has forgotten her keys and finds herself locked out. Cynical and grumpy, the retired lawyer who has been living estranged from the rest of the world, should normally leave her to her fate but he mellows under her spontaneous charm. He helps her, becomes friends not only with her but with her husband Fabio and their two children. For once, the self-declared misanthropist seems to be experiencing the long forgotten feeling of empathy.
Acting
Carpentieri's face alone tells forty years of bitterness dissolving.
Direction
Amelio's Naples feels lived-in, cramped, unexpectedly tender.
Writing
No grand speeches—just small kindnesses that wreck you.
Director
Gianni Amelio
Renato Carpentieri
Lorenzo
Elio Germano
Fabio
Giovanna Mezzogiorno
Elena
Micaela Ramazzotti
Michela
Greta Scacchi
Aurora
Arturo Muselli
Saverio
Giuseppe Zeno
Giulio
Maria Nazionale
Rossana
Enzo Casertano
il portiere
Hedy Krissane
L'imputato egiziano
Fabio Cocifoglia
Notaio
Giovanni Esposito
Davide
Salvatore Cantalupo
Satriano
Nunzio Giuliano
Pascali
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Amelio is a titan of Italian cinema who won at Cannes twice, yet remains criminally underseen outside cinephile circles—this late-career gem got buried by flashier 2017 releases.
The title's Italian original 'Tenderness' carries medical connotations—heart tissue, healing—that the English translation flattens; Lorenzo's literal and metaphorical heart condition are inseparable.
IT
