This Italian, Rain Man-like journey of self-discovery tackles issues like guilt, shame and compassion with admirable sensitivity. It sees Kim Rossi Stuart as a father who has to come to terms with the physical disability of the teenage son (Andrea Rossi) he'd abandoned after the child's mother died giving birth.
It all could have descended into patronising sentimentality, especially after Rossi Stuart conquers his embarrassment at his offspring's laboured gait to strike up an affectionate relationship. But director Gianni Amelio adds a note of sobering realism by contrasting this newfound enthusiasm with the exhausted devotion of Charlotte Rampling's Nicole, whose own handicapped daughter is receiving treatment at the same Berlin clinic. Only a pointless Norwegian subplot feels unpersuasively forced.