Sergio Rubini plays an art critic in love and in lust with a former student, the very beautiful Vittoria Puccini. He's been her man, protector and lover since she was 16 years of age. Enters artist Riccardo Scamarcio into their lives and more prominently into Vittoria Puccini's heart and bed. Rubini's critic will do everything to befriend him so he can destroy him. Not bad as a premise but Rubini is not Claude Chabrol and here we spend most of the time way ahead of the characters without really caring about them. The film looks expensive with exterior scenes at the Pantheon and Piazza del Popolo but it's all merely a sterile an annoying exercise in self importance. Sergio Rubini has been better as an actor and much better as a director in the past. Riccardo Scamarcio, beautiful yes, but too much of him shows, mostly, his limitations as an actor. Was Rubini here doing with Scamarcio what his character did to Scamarcio's character? Nastiness can be very entertaining from All About Eve onwards but here it's just predictable and boring. I'm really sorry about that.
Review of Colpo d'occhio
