In this moving reflection of her relationship with her father, filmmaker Francesca Comencini travels through her childhood and Italian history. The result is a loving tribute to the thing that guided him, and saved her: cinema.
After nearly 40 years as a filmmaker, Francesca Comencini chose to reflect on her relationship with her father, Luigi Comencini. One of the most significant figures in the history of Italian cinema and creator of masterpieces Pane, amore e fantasia (1953) and The Adventures of Pinocchio. Il tempo che ci vuole beautifully interweaves memories of the filmmakers mellow childhood and tumultuous youth with key moments in Italy’s history: particularly the 70’s and beginning of the 80’s, when heroin began devastating a generation struggling to navigate a politically tense and increasingly polarised climate, marked by terrorism and propaganda.
What makes Il tempo che ci vuole extraordinary, however, is that it serves as an homage not only to Luigi Comencini as a man and an artist but, above all, to cinema as a language of love. Father and daughter grow and age together, united by their shared devotion to cinema – a life choice that first guided the father and later saved the daughter. Through this approach, Francesca Comencini liberates the narrative from conventional genre constraints, delivering a profoundly moving film that celebrates the beauty of their relationship and strengthens every viewer’s love for cinema.