Ladymol's Review

Well, that’ll teach me to believe anyone else’s reviews. I quote:

Days is an absorbing, uplifting drama about the vulnerability of life and the incredible power of love

So… I was watching the other version, was I?

Claudio is HIV+. He is in a long-term relationship with Dario and they are in the process of moving from Rome to Milan. Dario goes first; Claudio is left to pack up the house and follow. One night he meets a waiter and has a fling with him. Andrea knows Claudio is sick and doesn’t seem to care. They have unprotected sex. In reviews, Andrea is supposed to have this great love of life. He’s supposed to bring Claudio out of his repressed shell. Not in the version I saw. Andrea is melancholy, sad for Claudio and sad for the sacrifice he seems to know he is making.

Claudio’s HIV status is wonderfully portrayed: the pills that keep him rigidly tied to alarms and bottles and routine. The acting is superb. However, the central premise that Andrea is willing to sacrifice his life for Claudio by ignoring his illness just doesn’t ring true to me. They have one wonderful weekend at a beach house, where you can see the love shine through, but the story is too confused with Claudio’s sister (what is that all about), his mother and Dario to give enough time develop Andrea’s love for Claudio.

If this film is meant to be uplifting then I’m at a loss.

I feel utterly deflated watching it. There are great kisses, I don’t deny that and one scene where their irresistible passion for each other does come over, but the rest is very “French” (and given that this is an Italian movie that’s quite odd) in that it’s very talk take without enough action.

Well worth seeing, but not up lifting! If you go into it believing the reviews you’ll be sadly disappointed.

Cerisaye's Review

I loved this movie…until the end.  I wanted to go back and see if I’d missed hints about the direction it was going.  Except right then I was too hurt and angry to want to sit through it. 

Claudio is a banker, with a boyfriend, Dario.  They’ve been together for years, settled, committed, predictable.  Both are good looking guys. It’s an open relationship, at least on Claudio’s side. They appear to have it all.  This is an Italian film, so the men are sleek and stylish, a bit vain, innately sexy, confident and charming. 

But Claudio is HIV+.  He’s on intensive therapy and a heavy drugs regimen.  Lover Dario is negative though, they’re always safe.  Claudio is careful about every aspect of his life, very much in control.  He’s all buttoned up…boring…not easy to like, with his nose in the air and a superior attitude, remoteness that’s either reserve or fear of being vulnerable.  He’s 35 and has had the virus for 10 years, a long time under threat of death, denied normal life. 

Claudio has a casual encounter crammed in the back of a car with a gorgeous waiter called Andrea (a boy despite the name), shown over the opening credits, nothing explicit but intensely erotic, really hot.  Claudio can’t forget how it felt- spontaneous, carefree, like he doesn’t have this thing inside him  He’s meant to be moving soon to Milan with Dario.  Now Claudio the anally retentive control freak is confused, moody and unhappy. 

Claudio wants Andrea, with a passion it doesn’t look like he’s ever felt before.  Thomas Trabacchi is amazing in the way he portrays Claudio’s emotions.  There are some rather nice scenes of them together to establish the urgency of their need, though don’t get too excited, as the cameras pull away just when it gets interesting.  What we get is very erotic.

Wait a moment…no condom?  No problem, says Andrea.  Carry on.  It doesn’t matter.  I’m aware younger men not of the generation devastated by AIDS are often reluctant to practice safe sex, while those who’ve watched friends & lovers die are evangelical in promoting it.  So what should Claudio do?  Tell Andrea don’t be stupid, it’s not worth it.  Plenty of non-risky things we can do.  Does he?  Of course not, though he hesitates because he knows it’s wrong.  We’ve seen him at the hospital and taking a box-load of tablets every day.  Living with HIV isn’t easy.  Drugs and therapies aren’t a cure.  It’s something they can’t afford to ignore.

They’re in love and to hang with the consequences?  Iresponsible.  Crazy.  I’ve sat through it twice and I still don’t understand their motivations.  I know some young gay men do actively seek infection, it’s an issue covered last year on QAF.  But this film doesn’t justify what Andrea does to my satisfaction.   Because he risks infection not out of some fatalism but simply to make Claudio feel good, an act of self-sacrificial devotion that’s contrived and unbelievable.  Or that Claudio would allow this man he loves to do it, even in the heat of the moment.  Poor Dario gets dismissed rather off-handedly as well, though he takes it surprisingly well.  Superior Claudio doesn’t emerge from this well.  Just when we thought he was going to become human, like his sister.

Particularly hard to swallow is the eventual outcome that takes a beautiful romance and serves up a conclusion I found totally unnecessary and wilfully bleak.  I don’t need a happy ending but I expect something supported by what’s gone before.  And the way it’s done really upset me. 

To look at the sexy cover you’d think this was a happy romantic comedy.  Don’t be misled.  Despite all this carping I still say watch the movie, because the gay relationship is shown so beautifully, with real male passion and lovely details, like Claudio & Andrea wearing the same sweater.  The actors almost make you forget the weaknesses of the story so brilliantly do they convince in their roles.  But I hated the ending.  (Italian with English subtitles.)