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Amos Lassen wrote on 08/19/2010:

“David’s Birthday” (“Il Compleanno”)




Overcoming Repression




Amos Lassen





Matteo (Massimo Poggio) is a therapist who appears to be happily married to Francesca (Maria de Madeiros). They join their friends (Alessandro Gassman & Michela Cescon) on a getaway at a sunny Italian beach and they wait for the arrival of David, the latter couple’s handsome teen son who will be celebrating his birthday. When David arrives, Matteo is so attracted that he is overtaken and at the same time there is a focus on David’s sexual ambiguity/
The arrival of David played by the beautiful Thyaga Alves, undermines the emotional balance of each. In particular, the character played by Poggio , estimated psychoanalyst, is overwhelmed by his great passion for the boy. Director Marco Filiberti tells of the inevitability of fate, " there are things from which you can not go back”. However , the director is very good at directing actors in a " theorem " that calls the viewer to strip himself of prejudice and resistance and enter the world of passion. Like any self-respecting melodrama , “David’s Birthday” leads to extreme consequences-- not just feelings but unconscious repression.
“David’s Birthday " is rich in irony, from the opening sequence, which takes place in a theater, and set in a magnificent beach house rented by a group of friends to spend the summer. It is a melodrama, or, better yet, a contemporary melodrama, homage to Douglas Sirk. He sees the sudden arrival of David as, intended to trigger a growing tension that seems to upset everyone,
The film is a sweeping and operatic melodrama, gorgeous to look at (due to Roberta Allegrini’s camerawork) and listen to ( Andrea Chenna’s powerful score). And the entire ensemble gives perfect performances.
In the long tradition of quality European cinema, “David’s Birthday” is pitch perfect with its nuanced plot, understated dialogue and dramatic tension. As Matteo’s internal life unravels, cleverly hinted at through scenes of him treating a patient in his job as a psychoanalyst, the film takes on pieces of “Death In Venice” and “American Beauty” (1999). Against the operatic score of Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde”, the film delivers perhaps cinema history’s most tensely crafted climax. Even if you know it’s coming, it still catches you off-guard.
The characters are flawed, but vivid: except for David himself who is essentially a beauty and also a more bland character than the rest. I found myself left with a "well, what happens next?" reaction. There were some very witty and funny moments and the film holds the viewer’s interest and it is impossible to deny the power of the final performances. However the ambiguity and uncertainty of the way I reacted to the film ultimately comes from it not engaging the viewer as much as it could have.