Italian Film Festival 2026 | Life is Life

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https://www.palacecinemas.com.au/movies/iff26-life-is-life

Date Reviewed: 08/09/2026

From the beginning, the diversity of Italian life on display here is fascinating. The opening family reunion and celebration is a clever universal touchstone. The warmth and sincerity of Sardinia is dramatically contrasted with the luxury and status of Milanese life, establishing the film’s central conflict between countryside and city.

Life is Life begins its plot as a criticism of top-down development, with the combative relationship between Sardinia and Milan becoming a broader thematic conflict in the film. The wider societal cost of Efisio Mulas’s stubbornness is cleverly expressed through the town’s reactions to his refusal to accept payment. The way each of the townspeople approaches Efisio to try and negotiate, bully and/or harass the old farmer is sincerely hilarious. So too is Efisio’s wife, whose house is crammed full of pickled and spiced vegetables, making her one of the film’s most memorable comic characters.

Yet what this Milan/mainland Italian company is offering is ultimately destruction and possibility, not substantial reform or concrete opportunity. Life is Life is a clever piece of political filmmaking, framing the rights of the individual against those of the company, but it ignores the capitalist element of this story to instead become a broad comedy. The film is anti-establishment, but not anti-capitalist or anti-landlord, which makes its politics feel somewhat underdeveloped. This is particularly noticeable because the story seems to invite a much sharper critique of development, ownership and corporate power.

Our protagonist desperately needs a stronger monologue to validate why Efisio says he feels he cannot sell. His stubbornness is entertaining, but the film never quite gives it the ideological or emotional weight it deserves. The blameless, family-oriented business leader, played superbly by Diego Abatantuono, is an oddly balanced character. He is masterfully performed but is written as a strangely morally good figure who fits awkwardly into the film’s plot.

The soundtrack is sublime at capturing the rustic stubbornness of our protagonist. The ending is intriguing but almost soporific in its sappy emotion. Ultimately, the story of Life is Life is a simple man’s struggle against power and corruption, but its broad comedy leaves some of its sharper political possibilities unexplored.

Reviewed by Nicolas Van Der Haar