An overhead view of a road traffic accident, the victim a young girl who has come off her bike is rushed to hospital and into surgery, her life obviously hangs in the balance as surgeons try to save her. This is the opening for Don't Move, directed by and starring Sergio Castellitto with Penelope Cruz as you've never seen her before.

Sergio plays Timoteo a surgeon, the girl in the accident (Angela) is his daughter and all he can do is sit and wait while she is operated on. Something jogs his memory and the majority of the rest of the film is told through flashbacks of a doomed love affair he had.

Penelope Cruz plays Italia, in flashback the other half of the doomed affair, with a mixture of make up and acting she attacks the role of one of society's casualties with aplomb, cheap tacky clothing, multi-coloured streaky hair, a bandy gawky walk and the attitude of a victim, great acting (and in Italian).

What starts off near enough as rape ends up as a passionate affair. Italia, her house and life are the polar opposites to Timoteo's, his wife is very beautiful in a traditional sense, confident, well off and well educated, his house flows with beauty and serenity while Italia's is a sloven shack due to be demolished, he has a successful career and social life, she lives amongst and indeed is one of society's misfits. Several times through-out the film this disparity is clearly illustrated, the first time being when Timoteo is sat on Italia's bed trying to ring his home, we switch from the run down shambles to the luxurious bedroom at the other end of the line, silky curtains blowing in a gentle breeze, stylish furniture and calmness, this type of switch occurs again and again, sometimes to illustrate differences, sometimes because of similarities in circumstance . 

From what I can remember there was no background music as such, what appeared to be background music became part of the film whether played in a cafe, car etc this was unusual but worked well within the context of the film.

The story pretty much plays out as expected involving the usual suspects - passion, lust, pregnancy, bitterness, regret and of course death but just manages to steer the right side of mawkish melodrama. The story is fairly obvious and put to music would make a great opera, the acting especially from Ms Cruz holds you till the end.

Worth seeing even if only to see Penelope Cruz act (as opposed to the recent crap she's done) and for those who like this traditional type of dramatic romance.

Cheers Trev.