The First Beautiful Thing

Bruno Michelucci (Valerio Mastandrea) wants nothing to do with his mother, but he is pulled back to Livorno and the family he has spent years avoiding. The story runs from the summer of 1971, when the young Anna (Micaela Ramazzotti) is crowned "Most Beautiful Mother" at a seaside pageant and her husband's jealousy turns violent, into the present day. Paolo Virzì moves between the seventies and now, letting the loud, embarrassing, loving household fill both.