In Ages of Love, director Giovanni Veronesi’s third paean to the transformative magic of the heart, Cupid (Emanuele Propizio) drives a cab and wields a serious bow, all gleaming blacks and gunmetal grey, with enough attachments to satisfy the star of a Renny Harlin movie. Cupid is taking no chances in acquiring his targets, and neither is this film. As with 2005’s Manual of Love and 2007’s Manual of Love 2, examines the subject through tentatively connected episodes, with the three this time being defined by age: Youth, Adulthood and Beyond (which is actually old, not otherworldly).
'Love is an emotion that stops everything," muses Cupid, and that’s about the level of philosophical engagement in this lightly dramatic comedy, where the pre-ordained means you never have to worry too much about what might transpire. Lawyer Roberto (Riccardo Scamarcio) is on his knees, professing his love for fiancé Sara (Valeria Solarino) within three minutes of Youth opening the picture, and the tone is set of light strokes and quickly cutting to the chase. Love as a contemplative or accumulative force doesn’t stand a chance in this swift-paced portmanteau.
Sent to a suitably picturesque Tuscan village to cut a deal with some stubborn local farmers, Roberto is soon entangled with the eccentric locals and entranced by Micol (Laura Chiatti), who he very quickly falls into an affair with despite his deeply held feelings of Sara. Love, in this setting, apparently doesn’t preclude male transgressions, for in Adulthood newsreader Fabio (Carlo Verdone) also strays from his loving wife, being seduced by the unpredictable Eliana (Donatella Finocchiaro). Love, in this Italian setting, also comes with a healthy side-order of sex.
Of course neither distraction is perfect, and trouble ensures. This is second nature to Verdone, a gifted farceur of many years standing. As his troubles multiply he grows ever more frantic, which is a distraction of sorts to the notion that the film isn’t exactly evenhanded when it comes to the two sexes; the men play up, realise that one woman has tempted them, and try to return to the woman that previously loved them. The male leads have to generate comic anxiety, which is easy for Verdone but rather odd when it’s being handled by Robert De Niro.
The screen great, fluent in Italian, plays Adrian, an American professor of antiquities who has retired to Italy after a heart transplant and must, naturally, learn to truly make use of his new organ. He’s tempted by the just returned daughter of his friend, bullheaded building custodian Augusto (Michele Placido), who turns out to be a reformed stripper with a heart of gold who hangs up her laundry in high heels and looks like Monica Bellucci (like Verdone and Scamarcio she’s featured in previous installments as a different character). De Niro is game for whatever Veronesi asks, but the squinty eyes and crooked smile that mark his pleasure look awfully familiar. When Bellucci’s Viola schools him in stripping she says, 'Don’t smile, set your jaw", which is actually standard operating procedure for De Niro. His spark is manufactured, and that’s emblematic of a franchise that’s becoming mechanical. 'Love doesn’t make concessions," cautions Cupid, but Ages of Love does.
