It makes sense on paper that Nico (Marco Fiore) should spend the summer with his great aunt Gela (Aurora Quattrochi) when the latter has all the time in the world – as well as the space in her airy Sicilian flat – in “Sweetheart,” but in practice, it isn’t ideal. The young boy is instantly put off by the lack of wi-fi in the old building and Gela uses every opportunity she can to get him off the phone when it seems like his attention would be better spent elsewhere, though playing cards with the other older women in the building like she does holds no appeal and he can’t break in with the kids his own age who play soccer in the courtyard and are naturally suspicious of anyone from the outside. However, even as his unseen parents don’t show a lot of compassion for their son in shipping him off in the first place, they likely had some idea that some time spent at a remove from his regular routine might do him good and when one can feel the cool air of the nearby beach wafting off of Margherita Spampinato’s charming debut feature, it can feel like the cinematic excursion has the same benefits.
Given how comfortable she’s become living alone in her apartment, you get the feeling that Gela doesn’t go to the beach much, as close as it is, and it eventually becomes a fair trade that she’s lured there by Nico after she gradually pulls him from his preoccupations with everything going on in the world except for what’s right in front of him. A challenge to him that he can’t get his phone back until he beats her at a hand of Briscola would seem to mean he’ll never see its return, but though he realizes where Gela has hidden it long before he gets good enough at the card game to win it back properly, it starts to be of less and less interest when he finally gets an invite from Rosa (Martina Ziami), the granddaughter of one of Gela’s neighbors, to play downstairs after she learns why Nico’s in town.
The reason isn’t just of interest to Rosa, but clearly Spampinato as well when Nico has trouble putting his explanation into words, particularly at his age when it feels as if he’s suffered a death after he’s likely seen the last of his beloved longtime babysitter Violette and sent to Sicily to grieve. It becomes an issue for Rosa to learn later that as much as Nico speaks about Violette in the past tense, she is alive and well, only unlikely to be a part of his life after she gets married, but it allows for an intriguing bond with Gela, who seems as if she was similarly exiled by her family for a close relationship she had that no one knew how to deal with. Accepting one another for who they are rather than attempting to turn them into who they think they should be becomes a lesson for all in a film where coming of age isn’t limited to the prepubescent and Spampinato‘s own strength is not forcing anything in the light drama where the relaxed pace and gentle narrative turns become engrossing. “Sweetheart” may have less love in it than its title implies, but it has plenty of care and consideration.
“Sweetheart” does not yet have U.S. distribution.