Sabina is a woman who seems to have it all: a job she loves, a nice boyfriend, and a great apartment. Yet, Sabina is carrying a heavy burden in her heart. It all comes to a head when she has to make a decision about the death of her parents, as we witness at the start of the film. All the bottled emotions are struggling to come out as she decides to spend Christmas with her brother Daniele in America. She wants to see her older sibling in order to make sense of her past and get closure with a horrible past.Sabina's boyfriend Franco, an actor, is selected to be in a soap opera. Being a theater actor, he is not completely satisfied with the idea, but being realistic, he has to compromise. Sabina, in parting, asks Franco not to see other women while she is away, knowing well the way things are in the world where Franco moves.Instead of being a joyous reunion, both siblings show a restraint in the way the visit develops. Daniele, who is a professor at an American university, plays the tour guide, pointing different aspects of the place he now calls home, but he never mentions anything about his own childhood. It takes a while for Daniele to open up to Sabina because she wants to get to the bottom of the secret that has damaged them both for life. Both, it turns out, are the victims of family sexual abuse by their father, an ugly situation perpetuated by the mother, who knowing about it, prefers to keep it hidden. When the truth comes out, we watch in horror scenes from both siblings childhood.Cristina Comencini, the author of the novel in which this film is based, adapted and directed with sure hand. She is the daughter of the distinguished Italian director Luigi Comencini. She has learned well as she sets her story with great precision, creating characters that one can relate to.The best thing in the film is the work of Giovanna Mezzogiorno. She brings life into Sabina, something that with another actress might not have been as easy. Ms. Mezzogiorno is simply splendid because she makes us care for this wounded woman who is searching for closure in understanding what was done to her at an early age. Equally excellent are Alessio Boni, who appears as Franco, the boyfriend, and Luigi LoCascio makes an impression as Daniele. Both these actors continue to surprise.

The director has written 4 books and directed 7 films but this is her first film based on her own book. She said it has been a challenging task for her to direct this film because one has to betray the book while directing its film version. It has been a difficult task for her to cut out many written in her book.In general, it's a well-done film about many unusual relationships: family relationships (including father-daughter, mother-daughter, father-son, mother-son, brother-sister relationships) involved in pedophilia, lesbian relationship, co-cohabiting couple relationship in an adultery, divorced couple relationship in an adultery. Exactly because of such a wide angle about relationships, the core element about victims/survivors of pedophilia has been dealt lightly but conscientiously.Very good acting from the supporting actresses Angela Finocchiaro and Stefania Rocca. The acting of Giovanna Mezzogiorno is less natural. The anxiety she delivers in this film is not that of being in a pedophilia victim-hood, but more of that of her impersonal and emotionless involvement.Two scenes I found unnecessary in the film. One is the (imagined) kissing scene of Emilia and Sabina. Enough evidence has been given (though later) suggesting Emilia is a lesbian, so no need of showing this scene. Another disturbing scene is when Franco was watching Sabina playing with his children. I found it redundant to show the detailed scene of Sabina's conversation with the children.In addition, the plot is well-linked through narrating all correspondences (letters and emails) between the protagonists. A neat idea.

'La Bestia nel cuore' ('The Beast in the Heart' released in the USA as 'Don't Tell') is an intense Italian film written and directed by Cristina Comencini that tackles subject matter so visceral that the telling of it requires complete concentration from the audience in order to feel the power of the impact at the end. It is a tough film to watch because of the story, but it is a superb film to watch because of the excellent cast and production crew.Sabina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) is introduced to us in a cemetery where she is arranging for the interment of her dead parents: the mood for the story is subtly set. Sabina is a dubbing actress for translating films into Italian, a 'sell-out' acting job compared to the life of her live-in boyfriend Franco (Alessio Boni) who is a stage actor being tempted to accept a role in a TV series which pays more money than the stage. Sabina confesses she wants to get pregnant, she does, and with her pregnancy she begins to have nightmares of shadowy childhood memories. She is afraid to discuss these with Franco, or with her best friend Emilia (Stefania Rocca) who is blind and has been in love with Sabina since childhood. It seems the only person with whom she can confide her secret fears is her brother Daniele (Luigi Lo Cascio) who has moved from Italy to Charlottesville, VA where he is a professor at the University and has a happy family life with wife Anna (Lucy Akhurst) and two children. Sabina flies to the US to be with her brother and in the course of their reunion the two siblings uncover the beasts in their hearts: sexual abuse from their father now departed. How this discovery alters their lives is the dénouement of the film.There are many subplots - infidelity on the part of Franco while Sabina is away, a lesbian relationship that develops between Emilia and another of Sabina's friends Maria (Angela Finocchiaro) - and Comencini draws subtle parallels between these twists along side the main story of incest discovery. Yet without concentration, these subplots can become distracting.The acting is on the highest level and the changing locations are shot by cinematographer Fabio Cianchetti with sensitive respect of the nuances of suggestion encased in each place. The uncredited musical score is an admixture from Robert Schumann's piano sonata to contemporary works and serves to heighten the actions and mood. In Italian with subtitles. A film well worth watching.

OK, let me talk some sense about this movie:1. This is Italian Drama at its worst 2. There are three different movies crammed into one 3. The narrative cues are typical of soap operasThere, I said it. And I know what I'm talking about since I'm from Brazil and we know all about soap operas. This is not a great film, period. Put that in your head, Foreign Film judges.It might have been a good episode (if heavily edited) of prime time TV, but it will NEVER be Oscar material.First, let me digress about the script. As many of you will see, it's a mess from start to finish. The main topic (abuse / incest) has to share time with a struggling TV director and a some thoughts on lesbianism AND blindness at the same time. Can you guys see the SCOPE of all that? How are we supposed to follow all these very intense plot lines and still care for the main theme?Well, the answer is simple. We can't. Soon the audience gets divided over plot lines and the main one never recovers. Since this is a scripting problem - mainly from the adaptation from a book, I'm sure - this would already be a major con for a serious drama.Then we go to acting. The husband gives us the "theater speech" but all we see on screen is an impersonation of a caring husband. He never goes above TV level - just like what they are supposedly mocking. As for the main actress, she is good but her character soon loses steam and she has to rely on pre-fabricated "moments" to emote on. After a while, it gets plain boring.We never get a feel for the lesbian/blind girl either. She is no more than a mental construct, a "moral in a person" that manages to shine in a couple moments and nothing more. A wasted character, I might say.The older woman. She appears from nowhere, turns lesbian, says she's straight then proceeds to kiss the blind girl and disappears again.I have to mention the music. All the cues come straight from a horror picture, making the horrific abuse almost funny. Less strings would be nice. Actually, less music in general would help the movie a lot.Finally, the directing works really well sometimes. The movie has moments of greatness, of true emotion. It's unfortunate that it is so irregular - whole sequences are destroyed by badly selected shots and artificial mis-en-scene. Again, it gets funny when it shouldn't and many important plot points fall flat. This seems to be the work of a novice director, someone still getting to know the tools of the trade.It could be so much better. 30 minutes less, it would be a competent drama. This is watchable for the most part - 70 minutes or so, I'd say - but gets irritating and over-extended close to the third act. As always, great intentions don't make a movie great.I'll end this review saying that I'm stupefied over the Oscar nomination. I still can't put my mind around it and will have nightmares tonight, I bet.