Review of Ples v dezju

I was attracted by the DVD in the shop because the label said "acclaimed by critics as the best Slovenian film". My knowledge of Slovenian films was zero, so I decided to give it a chance. I am Italian, but the DVD edition offers subtitles in many languages, among which mine. Anyway, I wasn't disappointed. On the contrary, I very much liked this unknown (to non-Slovenian audiences) movie. It's the story of two people who meet and fall in love. He is one who likes to shift from one woman to another, and maybe he has never known love, like many others. She is a good woman, unlike many others. She's in her late thirties, and older than he. She falls in love with him and has the most serious intentions. They go on meeting for some time. Love is on both sides, but he lingers in front of the final decision. She waits for him to make up his mind, but he remains trapped in many thoughts, above all considerations on her age (he lays much importance on sex for itself, which is a deceit), and maybe that she is very different to what he had always expected and waited for. Though, she is the one for him. Will he grasp this truth, will he see clear in his heart? Time goes by quickly and this brief occasion can be lost forever. It is a melodrama, and a very intense one. Moving and well-depicted is the figure of her: the director describes finely her feelings, her fears, her sorrow for a man who can't understand his own heart and is bound to too many common places about how a love relationship should be like. The actress is perfect. We suffer with her, when he, who won't accept his feelings towards her, offends her in the most brutal way by mentioning her age (though not beyond 38, I guess). The movie also shows in a very effective way dreams and some pieces of imagination of the characters. It's a striking movie, which touches one's heart and remains in it. It is a pity that it is known by not many people in Slovenia, and almost nobody elsewhere (among which me). Though belonging to the former communist Europe, it does not even mention politics or have any kind of political propaganda. It is a very good melodrama, with surrealistic elements. That's all what it is. Now let's wait for the first Slovene to post a comment about this Slovenian movie.