Ermanno Olmi's "I Fidanzati" worked slowly to its climax, which I would say is the last 7 or so minutes of the film. Having gone through several (unsuccessful) long-distance relationships, it is my expert opinion that this movie is very true in depicting the events that occur when one lover decides to pack up and leave (crests of nostalgia and passion, troughs of bitter resentment and denial). It seems that as soon as both parties commit to each other their love and their loyalty (which usually takes an absurd amount of time and distance), things fall apart very quickly.
I loved the flashbacks with the two perspectives (and what I imagine to be the same take) of the motorcycle ride. A film I recommend to only the patient and aesthetically sensitive. Then again, the brief scenes of men walking casually around the hostel in pajama pants, undershirts, and sunglasses are just too cool to miss.
A brief note on the power of dancing. When I think back on the best-preserved memories of these relationships long past, they nearly all involve dancing. Whether in bedrooms to 33s played on my grandmother's old stereo, at Ypsilanti house parties, in Parisian nightclubs, here in Ann Arbor at the bar... it was during these times that my heart surrendered and my fondest memories formed.
