Maybe I don't understand Italian even WITH subtitles...

Just seen this movie and basically I think Antonia leaves because the people at the gathering are talking about Michele's love life and she still feels uncomfortable with it, or maybe she doesn't want to upset him, remind him of Massimo's relationship with her by telling him of the baby? I think she's happy about the baby and is not going for an abortion rather just to spend some time alone thinking it out, like her mother suggests. I really don't think it can be Michele's as I doubt they have sex. I think you're right about the glass not breaking though, meaning she will come back, maybe even to Michele, but my husband thought this meant he had no feelings for her, that someone he loved hadn't left only someone he didn't, but I prefer our way! And her mother giving her the necklace was I think a typical mother daughter thing to do. The mother criticises and seems unloving, but she does care and gives her daughter something precious and maybe it does also signify some kind of freedom. At the end of the day I think it's nice to hypothesize and try to work out the meaning yourself. Too many films spell every little detail out like we are morons. It's nice to use your brain and even disagree a little on the interpretation. That's what makes movies fun!


"Never been alone with a man before, even with my dress on, with my dress off it's most unusual."

I just saw this on Australian tv. I really liked it butwas a bit confused buy the ending too. I suppose that I have been spoiled by American films that spell everything out in black and white, but it was late at night and I didn't really want to think!

Id like to think (in the morning) that Antonia goes back to Rome and rises her child there. Maybe not in the commune style life that Michele lives in but with contact with them and Michele can see Massimo's child grow up. As a gay man I find this a romantic notion, the closest Id be to being a father. But Im not sure that that is what Michele would want. Maybe he just needs to move on and not be reminded of the past.

I think that the glass not breaking was a sign that Antonia will come back. I think they both realise that there is more to their relationship than thier mutual longing for Massimo. They realise after they kiss and are both thinking of him that they are not eachothers substitue for Massimo but a new friend.

Any one elses thoughts??

I thought the glass not breaking meant that he never loved her. When they were fighting in the rain, she said that he didn't know how to love. He only loved what was inaccessible. She lives in a different sphere from him, and he was always kept away from the house by Massimo. When she says her sorta-goodbye, he stands up in the loft with his back to her. I mean, if he loved her he would have done something! He didn't love her, so the glass didn't break.

By the way, she tells the nurse that the child is with Massimo. She didn't have sex with Michele. The child represented her new life: she didn't have one with Massimo (or atleast didn't plan to) because he didn't want her to. THey married out of high school, and she basically lived for him. So the necklace showed her freedom to explore her life.

I loved the ending: Antonia finally decided to live her life on her terms.

Admittingly, it is a bit confusing, but, as Antonia says during the talk she has with her doctor-friend who confirms her pregnancy: "è di Massimo" - meaning: "It's Massimo's". So, no Michele as a father. The reason why she goes to Michele's flat with the bottle is to celebrate with 'the other people who were close to Massimo' - perhaps she considers her baby to be a kind of collective child. However, after she hears Serra say to Michele: "perhaps you really want to be the official widow ('la vedova ufficiale')", Antonia decides to leave.

However, it's not clear whether she goes to 'Amsterdam' - which was in Italy, until quite recently, a metaphor for everything that is forbidden in Italian society - to get the abortion, or just to 'think'.

The necklace is clearly a gift passed over by her mother to Antonia to symbolize Antonia's new life and freedom.

The breaking of the glass: the first time it happens it's because - as we learn a bit later - Emmanuele, the lover of the AIDS-patient Ernesto has died, with the commune not daring to tell Ernesto that this is the case. So, when Michele drops the glass, and it remains intact, this can only mean that Antonia will return.

The ending is ambiguous simply because you are supposed to take your own interpretation from it, throughout the film, different people may have different view of what was going on, if the ending had been completly decisive, telling us exactly what happened, then the whole magical, deep, meaning of the film would have been ruined!
For me I took the ending to mean that Michele and Antonia love each other. Michele's friends ask him is he in love with her and he doesn't give a straight answer, it is obvious that she is in love with him. At the airport Antonio finds her mothers necklace, this has great significance and she finally realises that she needs to let go of Massimo and move on with her life, with Michele. Michele drops his glass, it doesn't break, this for me meant that someone he loved was NOT leaving him, therefore Antonia was coming back to him.
I thought that this was one of the most beautiful, interesting films I have ever seen. Normally I hate films with subtitles, yet this film was different; it didn't matter that I don't speak italian, it didn't matter that there were subtitles!

Save Horses, Ride a Cowboy!

My meeting with this film was quite magical and it happened in pure accident. I was watching a big award show yesterday and during the enormously long advertisements I swiched TV channels, and on one I stopped, because a woman attracted me, not quite her, but her expression. It was so sad and fragile. I mean I was spellbound by her appearence and how she desperatly wanted to speak to somebody´s sister and leave there this picture. It was such a big change from that BIG show on MTV. But I really wanted to watch the show, I was looking forward to it for many days, but then came this italian film and I forgot about the show in that same second. The film gave a wide smile on my face for the whole evening. And about the ending I think Antonia is comming back to Michele so that they can both rejoice having Massimo still with them through the baby. I wonder what the name of this baby will be:)

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Some things are meant to be ambiguous, but she clearly says Massimo is the father, and it's clear she and Michele never had sex even though they have bonded deeply and love one another non-sexually. Also she clearly expresses she sees the pregnancy as a blessing and intends to have the child.

To me the necklace means she is now free from her past, she can still treasure her love for Massimo, but is free from the bad feelings about his cheating, understands why Massimo loved Michele too, and has forgiven both of them. Even though she is shocked and hurt at first, her work as an HIV doctor would have exposed her to the common situation in which a young man who has not yet discovered his gay sexual desires truly falls in love with a beautiful admirable woman.

Why she leaves is not clear, but often women in their first months of pregnancy do not tell everyone until the second trimester when a miscarriage becomes less likely, since she was a doctor, she would probably be practical in this respect. I think she wanted a break to reassess everything on her own, but her affection for her new extended family was clearly strong and genuine and something she would return to, which is symbolized by the glass not breaking.

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