The Best Century of My Life
November 14, 2023
Sergio Castellitto plays a centenarian in Alessandro Bardani’s dramedic road movie about two men, both without knowledge of their birth parents, who take on the Italian law prohibiting them from finding out until they are 100 years-old.
Individual Tickets: Select showtime to purchase
Passes: $125 | $100 SIFF Members - Access to all Cinema Italian Style screenings and the Opening Night party
SIFF year-round passes are not valid for this screening. Vouchers are accepted.
In Italy there is a law, still in force and unique in Europe, which prohibits children not recognized at birth, from learning the identity of their natural parents until they have turned 100 years old. Alessandro Bardani’s comedy, based on his play of the same name, tells the story of the meeting between Giovanni (newcomer Valerio Lundini) and Gustavo (Sergio Castelitto), respectively 34 and 99 years old, and their funny journey in search of their origins. The men first meet in the hospice where Gustavo has been living for a number of years. A member of the Association for Adopted Children, Giovanni is there to take Gustavo to an important event where he will finally gain access to the file containing his mother’s identity, and where he can make the government aware of the need to change this brutal law. It’s more for the “shot of life” this journey promises than for the cause itself that Gustavo agrees to climb into Giovanni’s car: discovering his origins doesn’t really matter much to Gustavo anymore. Bardani’s well written and well-acted road movie seamlessly combines tears and laughter as well as sheds light on legislation currently affecting 400,000 people who don’t have the right to find out who brought them into the world or to uncover crucial information about their own genetic make-up.
- Original Language Title: Il più bel secolo della mia vita
- Director: Alessandro Bardani
- Principal Cast: Sergio Castellitto, Valerio Lundini
- Country: Italy
- Year: 2023
- Running Time: 90 min.
- Producer: Gabriele Mainetti, Andrea Occhipinti, Mattia Guerra, Stefano Massenzi
- Screenplay: Alessandro Bardani, Leonardo Fasoli, Maddalena Ravagli
- Cinematographers: Timoty Aliprandi
- Editors: Claudio Di Mauro
- Music: Francesco Cerasi
- Filmography: Debut Feature Film
- Language: Italian
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- International Sales: True Colours Glorious Film